My Color Is Aqua
by DreamStar14
Summary: Ever feel like you're invisible to other people? That's what the young girl feels like, but then she is proved wrong.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Enjoy! First part is set in the Soul Society arc. Story is in Yuki's POV.

~1~1~1~1~

Hi. My name is Yuki Shiro. My first name means "Snow." My last name means "White." So basically my name means "White Snow." Cool, huh?

I should probably describe to you what I look like. I have shoulder-length sky-blue hair. I have dark blue eyes. My height is 4'4". I wear the regular shinigami uniform. Instead of the regular white sash, I wear a blue ribbon that ties in the back. (You know, like Senna?) The only accessory I have is a snowflake hairclip that belonged to my mom.

I am a shinigami, as you might've guessed. I belong in the fourth division and I hold the ranking of fourth seat. My zanpaktou is named Ryuushiro, meaning "White Dragon.' Ryuu is a healing and ice zanpaktou. Instead of the diamonds being gold, they're silver. My shikai is "Freeze and Heal, Ryuushiro!" The end of the hilt grows a silver bell and then a light blue ribbon about eight feet long. My only attack is "Mizuyuki." It covers a limited area with Ryuu's ice of healing. I have no bankai, but other than that, cool, huh?

I am a childhood friend of Lieutenant Momo Hinamori. Through her, I met my undeniable crush, Toshirou Hitsugaya. She was happy that I was her friend and that I spiritual power like her. She was even happier when we found out that we both came from the same district of Rukongai, Junrinan. When we graduated from the Soul Academy, Momo was sad that we were in different divisions. But I was kinda happy. Aizen-taichou freaked me out and gave me a funny feeling.

I was mildly surprised when Shiro-kun was given the position of Captain. I was happy for him. Though people saw him ice and talked about him behind his back. N=But I didn't mind that gossip.

My favorite color is, after all, aqua, the color of his eyes.

Chapter 1

I walked down the halls to Division 5. My life was perfect. Or was it? I was told to deliver paperwork to Aizen-taichou and Hitsugaya-taichou. Even though Division 10 was closer, I started with Division 5 to get it over with. Like I said, Aizen gave me a funny feeling.

When I got to Division 5, I put the paperwork on Aizen's desk and was about to leave.

"Oh, Yuki-chan! Why don't you stay for tea?" Momo-chan asked.

"I can't. I have to deliver paperwork," I said. "Gomen, Momo-chan."

"It's okay! You can stay over tomorrow! It's you day off tomorrow, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Gotta go! Sayonara!" I waved.

*Division 10*

When I got to Division 10, I was stopped short by someone hugging me to the point where I couldn't breathe. No, seriously, I could not breathe. I actually thought I would die right then and there.

"Matsumoto, if you could release Yuki-chan that would be great."

Rangiku-san let me go. I was relived to have my breath back.

"Oh, Taichou. You know she likes it," Rangiku replied.

"Yeah, I do, but when I can't breathe, then I really start to hate it, because you're taking it too far." I had to get that out of my system. I just had to.

"Thanks a million, Hitsugaya-kun." I thanked my friend as I handed him the paperwork.

He smirked. "Anytime. And that's Hitsugaya-taichou to you." He took the paperwork.

*Bedtime*

"Night, Taichou. Night, Fukutaichou." I yawned.

"Good night, Shiro-san. Sweet dreams," Unohana-taichou said back.

As I went to bed, I couldn't help but feel like something bad was going to happen. I just knew it.

*Morning*

I woke up, got dressed as usual, and went to the Division 5 barracks to have tea with Momo-chan. I couldn't find her there. So I went out to look for her. I swear, Aizen, if you did anything to her, I will kill you…I thought.

I went outside and found all the lieutenants crowded in one place. I went to them to see what the commotion was about.

"What's going on here?" I asked. I looked up and my face went pale.

There was Aizen pinned to the wall way above me. There was blood running down from his body. Even though he scared me a bit, I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Then I heard a scream.

"No!!!! Aizen-taichou!!! You can't do this to me!!!" It was Momo-chan. I couldn't stand to see her like this.

"I'm going to get a captain." I said to everyone. I turned around and was about to shunpo off, when Ichimaru-taichou spoke to me.

"But a captain is already here. A captain has been here all along," he said and smiled widely.

"I meant another one," I said. Then before anyone else could speak, I shunpo'd off.

Please be there, Hitsugaya-kun. Momo-chan needs you. I need you. Please be there. Don't make me look for you, I pleaded mentally.

When I got to his office, I was in luck today. I was breathless, but yet I still spoke to him immediately.

"A-Aizen…murder…Momo-…" I stopped because he was looking at me like I had some sort of disease. "Oh, just follow me," I said as I grabbed his hand, pulling him out of his chair and into step beside me. We shunpo'd out.

As I was leading him, I heard Momo and Izuru shout their shikais. Oh, this cannot be good…

Then I realized that I was not in front anymore. Hitsugaya was now leading. I figured he had heard what I had heard just now and realized the trouble. I looked at his face, and then I quickly looked away. I couldn't look at face. His eyes were filled with anger. Then it hit me. I meant to say, " Aizen's been murdered. Momo's in great distress." He probably thought I said, "Aizen murdered Momo…"

When we got there, Hitsugaya quickly went over. He blocked Wabisuke with his sword and stopped Tobiume with his foot. I landed over by Rangiku.

"Back away, both of you…" Hitsugaya said, angrily.

They both backed away, but the two lieutenants did not stop looking hatefully at each other.

Hitsugaya lectured Momo about attacking people for no reason. Rangiku and another lieutenant took Momo away. Izuru was carried to only God knows where.

I turned to Ichimaru-taichou and was about to speak, but Hitsugaya-kun beat me to it.

"Ichimaru, I believe you were about to kill Momo." Hitsugaya said threateningly.

"Why would I, lil' Taichou?" Ichimaru faked innocent. I knew he was.

"Ichimaru, if you make Hinamori spill even a drop of blood, I will kill you." He said walking off.

"Toshirou-kun," I said, grabbing his shoulder and holding onto it like it was my last lifeline.

"What?!" He sounded as if he had just dealt with a huge load of being harassed. I stepped back a little, for I've never seen this side of him before. My blue eyes obviously showed that I was scared.

"I…just want you to know, I'm here for you," I said, letting go. I was about to walk off, but he grabbed my wrist.

"Yuki-chan…tell me something…"

I was silent.

"Why didn't you get Unohana-taichou instead? I'm sure that your captain is more important to you than I am," he said.

"Hitsugaya…you're my best friend…or one of them anyways. Besides you were the first person I thought of," I said, sort of sadly. Well I was sad. I was sad that he liked Momo more than me.

I pulled my wrist out of his grip. I could sense that he was surprised that I had done so. I walked back to my division.

Now I had only one thing to do. Figure out what to do about Momo-chan's imprisonment. She was currently stuck in Division 10 barracks or prison. My mind went to Momo and me.

*Flashback 1*

I was sitting on my pack porch. The sun was shining. It was a beautiful day, but I was sad. No one wanted to play with me. Then a girl with black hair and a boy with white hair came up. Well, the black-haired girl did. The white-haired kid stayed behind her.

"Hey," the girl said, sitting down beside me. "You look lonely."

"Uhh…I am," I said.

"We shall join you then. Right, Shiro-chan?"

"Stop calling me that!" the kid shouted.

"Oh, I like that name though," I said. "I'm Yuki Shiro."

"I'm Momo Hinamori and this is Toshirou Hitsugaya!"

"It's nice to meet you both. I think I'm going to like you guys," I said happily.

*Flashback 2*

"Yuki-chan! Get over here!" Momo-chan called. We were in the Soul Academy. We were training to become Shinigami. I asked Toshirou if he wanted to join us but he said that being a Death God was a pointless job.

But nonetheless, I went over to where Momo-chan and some other kids stood in a circle.

"Oh, hi Momo-chan!" I said.

"Meet Renji Abarai." She pointed to a kid with spiky red hair. "Izuru Kira." She pointed to a kid with blonde hair. "And Rukia Kuchiki." She pointed to a girl with black hair. "Everyone, this is Yuki Shiro. She's our new addition."

*Flashback 3*

"Yuki Shiro, I hereby place you in Squad 4, 4th Seat, under the placing of Retsu Unohana and Isane Kotetsu, Taichou and Fuku-Taichou." Yamamoto's voice hollered out through the room. I was finally a shinigami.

"And finally, Momo Hinamori, I hereby place you in Squad 5, unseated, under the placing of Sosuke Aizen, Taichou." Momo smiled beside me.

"Aww…Yuki-chan…you're in a different division than me. I'm in fifth," Momo whined after the graduation.

"It's okay. I'm just in fourth. I'll be your healer when you get injured, okay? And Shiro-kun too, okay? Agreed?"

"Agreed."

*End Flashbacks*

That's it. Momo's my best friend. I don't care if I get in prison in Division 10 just like her. I don't care if Hitsugaya-kun yells at me and is never my friend again. I'm breaking Momo out. And no one can stop me.

~Division 10 - Nighttime~

I snuck stealthily toward Momo's cell. Kira-kun's and Abarai-kun's cells were already destroyed and abandoned. The only one left was Momo-chan. I got to her outside wall.

"Hadou 33: Sokatsui," I whispered. I may be a healer, but I am also an expert at kidou. The wall broke and I had created a hole in the wall.

Momo was looking at me hopefully.

"Come on, Momo-chan! We're getting out of here!" I said, extending my hand for her to take it. She did so. We both shunpo'd off. I followed Momo. She seemd like she was going off somewhere. But I respected her. So we went wherever she planned on going.

Then Momo told me to hide in the shadows and not be caught, whatsoever. I obeyed her. I hide in the shadows.

Then I knew why Momo-chan had told me to hide. I heard a familiar voice.

"Ichimaru…" It was Hitsugaya-kun. I felt my eyes go wide.

"Oh! Dear 10th captain…How nice to see you…"

"I see that Hinamori has not arrived yet. That makes it even better," Hitsugaya growled.

He spoke too soon. Just then Momo-chan appeared right in front of him.

"Hinamori! What on earth are you doing here?" Hitsugaya snapped at her. Just then, she whipped around, unsheathing Tobiume in the process and pointed her sword at him. Hitsugaya-kun…what the hell was wrong with Momo?

"Hina…mori…" His eyes were wide.

"Momo-chan…" I whispered. I wanted to yell at Momo-chan to stop whatever she was doing. I wanted to yell at Hitsugaya-kun to snap out of his trance. But I couldn't. Momo said I had to stay hidden.

About two minutes, I was snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Momo-chan cry, glaring hard at Hitsugaya-kun with wet eyes, "And do you know what Aizen-taichou's letter said?!"

I was worried out of my damn mind right now. Momo looked like she was trying to attack him or something…

Momo-chan continued, "At Kuchiki-san's execution… the weapon that they plan to use on her… The Sokyoku… when it is used, its powers are heightened by ten times… Anyone who wants to use it could level Soul Society…" I couldn't believe what I was hearing…

"And…" Her eyes narrowed, "Aizen-taichou told me that someone was planning to do this… Someone was going to use Sokyoku… And do you know who that is…?"

Hitsugaya-kun took a small step back, probably trying to brace himself for whatever may happen…

"It… It is tenth captain, Toshirou Hitsugaya …!" She screamed at him, "You killed my captain!"

She charged for him. I was too scared and surprised to pay attention to what Momo was trying to do to him. But I did hear Hitsugaya trying to deny it, but Momo shut him up.

She yelled again, "Liar! Don't lie to me! Do you think you can fool me that easily!? What do you expect me to believe!?"

She stopped attacking for a moment, crying pathetically in front of her old childhood friend, "Shiro…chan…?"

Then my mind went hazy, but I didn't faint. I stepped forward a bit, but I still held myself back from going any further. I was too scared that Hitsugaya-kun might want to execute me too. I couldn't pay attention no matter what I did.

He was a traitor. He said that he would protect Momo with all his life. Even though I was jealous of Hitsugaya liking Momo more than me, I couldn't help at wanting to kill him myself.

Hitsugaya-kun turned to Gin Ichimaru, catching the 3rd captain's mischievous smile that briefly turned into a diabolical smirk.

His eyes widened, "You…" He screamed loudly, charging for the other man, "It was you!!" I've never seen him this angry before.

Hinamori suddenly jumped into his way, tears streaming down her face, "D-Don't push me aside!"

The young captain had no choice and without a second thought, he threw his old friend aside. I was pissed at him right now. It took all my willpower to keep myself from releasing my probably weak reiatsu. It also took all my willpower to keep myself from jumping out and scratching Hitsugaya-kun's face with Ryuushiro.

With the collision and her lack of energy, she passed out on the ground. Tobiume's hilt covered with red blood. She was bleeding?!

"Ooooh… How mean, taichou!" Ichimaru mocked Hitsugaya with little fear, "You hit her so hard that she was knocked unconscious… What a mean person you are!" Even though I think Gin is an idiot, I had to agree with him on that one.

Hitsugaya growled, turning his head back to his enemy, "Gripping her zanpakuto so tightly in her hands that she was bleeding…" He sneered, pulling his own blade out from its sheath, "I told you… that if you made Hinamori spill blood…" His eyes got darker and he snarled deeply, "I would kill you."

Wait. Hold the damn phone. Who was the real person who had hurt Momo-chan? Hitsugaya-kun? Or Ichimaru-taichou? I couldn't think right now. I knew there was a fight going on, but I was too scared and mad at Hitsugaya-kun, I couldn't think. Yeah, I had made up my mind about who hurt Momo-chan. Hitsugaya-kun was a traitor. I mean, who could not believe a letter like Aizen-taichou's?!

I was finally able to calm myself down when Hitsugaya-kun froze Ichimaru-taichou's arm. I wanted so badly to break up that fight. I couldn't. Momo had told me not to get involved. She had told me to hide and not come out until the coast was clear.

"Shoot to kill, Shinso," Ichimaru said ever so calmly. Hitsugaya-kun dodged it by ducking.

"Are you sure you want to dodge that?" Ichimaru-taichou said calmly. "If you do, she'll die."

Shinso was headed straight for Momo-chan! I couldn't help it. I didn't know how fast I really was until I heard Hitsugaya shout, "NO!" I had run out from my hiding place and jumped in front of Momo, protecting her from Shinso. Shinso was headed towards me.

"Awww…Yuki-chan~! How dare you step in front of her…now you're going to die in her place…" I was now scared to hell. There was no one to help me. Hitsugaya was probably laughing at me getting hurt. Ichimaru was obviously smirking. I shut my eyes tightly.

But I never felt the blade pierce my skin. I looked up and there was Rangiku-san, blocking Shinso with Haineko.

"I'm sorry, Taichou. I was on my way back to my barracks, like you told me to. But then I felt Hyourinmaru's reiatsu, so I decided to come see what was wrong," She said. "Ichimaru, surrender your blade or you'll have both of us as your opponents."

I was jealous of Hitsugaya's reiatsu. Of Momo-chan's ability to fight someone to avenge her captain, even if it was her best friend. Of anyone holding a higher ranking than me. Of people who could fight better than me. I was probably the weakest healer of all Soul Society. I don't know why I became a Shinigami. Maybe Hitsugaya-kun was right. Being a Shinigami is a pointless job. _I'm so pathetic_, I thought.

Ichimaru called back Shinso and walked away. Rangiku-san stood back up.

"Thank you, Matsumoto…"

"Not a problem, Taichou…"

Nobody realized I was still standing there in front of Momo-chan. Not even Kira-kun, whom I just realized was there. I felt small and useless and weak. I wanted to kill myself. Then to catch everyone's attention, I picked up Momo-chan bridal style. Hitsugaya was the first to notice, of course, because he immediately protested and insisted that I put Momo-chan down right then. I didn't care if he was a captain right at that moment. He wasn't my captain anyways.

"No."

"What the hell did you say…?" His eyebrow was twitching, and I could tell he was downright furious with me. But like I said, I didn't care. I only cared about Momo-chan.

"I said no. I'm not letting Momo-chan down. I'm a healer and my job is to heal people, Hitsugaya_-taichou_…" I put extra stress on the word "taichou" on purpose.

He was speechless. It took guts to talk to him like that. And only I had them. That was when I walked away. I didn't have the heart to look back. I hated him now. I hated everyone except Momo-chan. I really wanted to kill myself. I felt like hell.

When I got to Division 4, I went to my room. I placed Momo on an extra futon of mine. I placed a healing kidou up around her and then I went over to my own futon, and not really caring that I was still in my shihakusho, I flopped down on the futon, crying my heart out, and falling asleep.

*Next Morning*

I shunpo'd in and out of sight. I couldn't find her anywhere. What was happening? Well I'll tell you.

I had woken up and looked to see that Momo-chan was out of my room. I had also noticed traces of a kidou barrier. So I figured that Momo-chan broke it. She was always good at that stuff. Breaking barriers and mix-matching different kidous and hadous was as easy as a piece of cake to her. I was never good at kidou, but there is one thing I am good at though. That is shunpo. I was probably the third fastest Shinigami in all Soul Society. But anyways, back to business. I looked all around my division for Momo-chan, but I couldn't find her anywhere. I was now looking all around Sereitei for Momo-chan. I even looked in the 10th Division but she was gone, along with Matsumoto and Hitsugaya-kun. I wonder what they could be up to?

By nighttime, I arrived at the place where I thought I'd go. Central 46. Forty wise men and six judges. I went to the door and looked through. Again I felt my heart twitch with pain.

"Central 46…what happened? They're all…dead. They've been murdered." I gasped. "Momo-chan was here! And so was Hitsugaya-kun! He was surprised for some odd reason. Isn't he the one behind all this? If he is, then why was he surprised? That doesn't make any sense…" Then my surprised look turned into a determined one. "To change the subject, I must not waste any time. Time is money right now. If I want everyone to be safe, I need to report this murder…right away…" With that I left. If Central 46's murder was all part of the plan of whoever was behind Rukia-chan's execution, then I would possibly the savior of Rukia-chan's life, much less than the entire Soul Society. I had to do this.

*Squad one barracks*

"Let me go! This is urgent! I must tell the Head Captain! This is an emergency!" I struggled against the guards, trying to get to Yamamoto-soutaichou. But unfortunately, they wouldn't let me.

"They're in a captain only meeting right now! You're going to have to wait!" One of them said.

"But this one can't! It's an emergency!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

Then I heard silence while Yamamoto's voice hollered throughout the silence. "Just let her in. If it's an emergency and it cannot wait, let her in."

The guards opened the doors. I rushed in and went onto my knees bowing with my forhad almost touching the ground.

"Gomennasai, Sir! I will gladly except any punishment later!" I shouted.

"What is it, Shiro-san?"

"Central 46 has been murdered! The interior of the building is covered in blood, Sir! All of their members look like they've been for a three days at the most!"

All the captains tensed at this, but then they look very surprised. I heard a few "whats" around the room. Yeah, I'm surprised too. I'm actually a bit scared too.

Then Yamamoto-soutaichou dismissed the meeting. I ran out, trying detecting Momo-chan's reiatsu, which had mysteriously gone down at least fifty notches. I followed her weakened reiatsu. I found myself at Central 46's chambers where ice covered the ground. There stood an ice dragon. When it spoke, I realized that it was Hitsugaya-kun. Oh, so that's where he went. He went to find Momo and get revenge on Gin and Aizen. Wait. AIZEN?!

I was itching to call out a name. Any name. I didn't care if they noticed me or not. I wanted to call out a random name. "H-Hitsu…gaya…kun…" Immediately, his head snapped towards my direction. He looked at me with wide eyes.

I heard him say, "Y-yuki…chan…you're alright…" before Aizen told him that they needed to finish their fight.

Hitsugaya went back to Aizen and said something like a threat. Aizen told him off, but Hitsugaya leapt anyway. I sighed in relief. Hitsugaya had him. Right in the chest, he had him. But then my eyes went wide. Hitsugaya's ice wings from his bankai broke off and there was a fatal wound on Hitsugaya-kun's right shoulder.

It seemed that at the same time, both Hitsugaya and I said, "I-Impossible…" Hitsugaya fell to the ground.

"Even though I like seeing ice, this is not the right time of year for it."

"Aizen-taichou!" I looked behind me. There was my taichou and fukitaichou.

Then I figured out from the conversation that went on that Aizen's zanpaktou made illusions. He had also used his zanpaktou to fake his death. I knew there was something wrong with that guy! He also explained other stuff, which I didn't really care about.

Then my train of thoughts was snapped in half when Aizen said to me, "Ha…Yuki-chan…you and Hinamori-kun were the best tools in my plan. Believing that Toshirou-kun was behind it all…But let me tell you the truth…It wasn't him…you see, it was me. I just used him to just get him out of my way when it was time for me to finally leave…"

I was downright furious. I couldn't help it. I released my reiatsu. All of it. It was actually stronger than what I first thought it was, because everyone backed up, even Unohana-taichou.

In the midst of my wrath, I heard Gin say, "She has a lieutenant-type reiatsu."

So I was supposed to be a lieutenant, but since all the spots were taken, they had put me in Squad 4 and made me Seat 4. Maybe I wasn't a "nobody" after all. Maybe I actually had a purpose in life. Maybe Hitsugaya-kun does like me the same as Momo-chan, and he just didn't show it. I smiled a little. And that made me calm down and my reiatsu storm to stop.

Then Ichimaru and Aizen left with a ribbon thing. I was dazed. They liked me after all. I wasn't weak. Then my mind went to Momo-chan and Hitsugaya-kun. They were injured.

"Taichou," I said. She turned to me.

"Yes?" She had a sad smile.

"Have I ever shown you my zanpaktou?"

"No you haven't. If you want you may show me right now," Unohana said.

She was always somebody you could look up to. Kotetsu-fukutaichou was contacting the Soul Society. She was telling them the truth.

So I unsheathed Ryuushiro. "Freeze and Heal, Ryuushiro…" Ryuushiro grew a bell and then an eight-foot light blue ribbon at the end. I went over to Hitsugaya-kun. I placed the flat of my blade against his shoulder and whispered, "Mizuyuki." Immediately, his shoulder was covered in ice.

When he was done, I went over to Momo-chan and did the same thing. When I was done, I resheathed Ryuushiro and walked back over to Unohana-taichou. She gave me a small thank you before Kotetsu-fukutaichou walked over, already done with telling the truth. I could tell she was tired.

*On top of Sokyoku Hill*

Aizen had left. It was now sunset. I was next to Yasochika Iemura, the third seat, giving orders to the healing units.

"And someone help the Ryoka!" Iemura said.

"I will," I said. I wanted to prove myself.

I walked over to the people who had saved Rukia for me. I was pretty shy walking over there by myself. But I did it, nonetheless.

"Umm…" I thought of something to say. All five faces turned to me, even the one under the orange barrier. "May I heal one of you please? You look badly hurt." Then I noticed Ganju Shiba and the bandages all over his face. "Ganju-san! You're hurt! Let me heal you!" I waited for them to respond.

"Umm, yeah. Sure you can help me, but I think I already have Kurosaki-kun under control," The girl said.

So I healed Ganju, a Quincy named Uryuu Ishida, and a Ryoka named Yasotura Sado, or Chad for short.

While I was healing Chad with Ryuushiro, the girl named Orihime Inoue said, "Thank you for helping me. I appreciate it."

"No, don't thank me," I protested. "I should be thanking you. Rukia-chan's my best friend, or one of them. I thought she was really cool when I first met her. She didn't treat me like a little kid, as did everyone else besides my little group of friends because I look like one, she treated me like I was her own little sister. She was so nice to me. I don't think I could live without her around. So thank you, all of you."

They all smiled, even Kurosaki-san. Then I stood up to Kurosaki's height. I stuck out my hand and introduced myself.

"Konnichiwa, Kurosaki-san. It's nice to meet you, one of the saviors of the Soul Society. My name is Yuki Shiro!" I smiled when he took my hand and shook it.

"It's nice to met you too." He was pretty silent. He reminded me of Hitsugaya-kun.

"Do you have a cell phone?" Inoue-san asked.

"Um, yeah…"

"Then we'll call you from time to time!" She was so excited for some reason.

"Okay, but I'll be on healing duty, so I might be available on most occasions. Don't be surprised if I'm not, okay?" I said.

"Okay!" I found some new friends, while also proving to myself that I wasn't a weakling. In fact, I was at lieutenant level. I smiled to myself, despite the injured people around me.

TO BE CONTINUED…

*1*1*1*1*

A/N: Yes, there will be a part 2. Please review to get it! It's the only way!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: So here's Part 2! Enjoy! The story is still in Yuki's POV. Part 2 takes place in Bount Arc.

And thanks to Dragon of Twilight, I have corrected a mistake regarding the world Bleach. Check it out!

~2~2~2~2~

Part 2

I woke up to a crash outside my door and then some yelling. I ran to my door and opened it furiously.

"What the hell-?" I started to shout but then I was interrupted.

"We're the patients here! Bring us some better food!" I sweat-dropped.

Squad 11. Again. They were always arguing with us. They were always criticizing us for whatever we did. No matter what we did, they always did that.

"I'm sorry Sir. I only bring what they tell me."

The two Squad 11 members kept pestering my squad member. It was loud. I had a slight headache now. But I didn't bother to tell them to shut their faces.

Then I was saved by Unohana-taichou. She placed her hand on one's shoulder and started to speak, scaring the crap out of the two 'fighters'.

"I should tell you this. You are my patients now and are under my division's care. They will not harm you. We have every thing under control." She opened her eyes, very scary-like. That sent shivers down my spine.

Then the two 'fighters' got really scared and ran down the hall, knocking over a squad member in the process. Luckily, someone else caught him.

That was awkward. Really awkward.

~That Afternoon~

I was writing a random story in my room now. I had the day off today, so that was a good thing.

My room was just like most of the other rooms in the building. It was styled as a traditional Japanese room with tatami mats lined on the floor. My furniture included a small writing desk, a bookshelf and a lamp placed next to the desk. My sleeping futon was folded neatly in the corner. It was quite comfortable despite its size.

Atop the desk were three framed pictures. The first one was a picture of my dad, my older brother, and me. Mom was killed by a Hollow when I was five. Oh, did I mention my brother was a Shinigami too? The second picture showed Momo, Rukia, and me when we were still attending the Shinigami Academy. And the last picture was a picture of Hitsugaya-kun and me. I adored my pictures.

I was interrupted by a knocking on the door. I said, "Who is it?"

I heard a muffled, "It's seventh seat Hanatarou Yamada, ma'am. I have a message for you."

"Okay, what is it?" I set my pen down and paused to listen to him.

"Your presence is requested in Division 10, Shiro-san."

"Do you know why?" I was confused.

"No, I just know that Hitsugaya-taichou wants to talk to you."

"Thank you, Hana-kun."

I felt him tense up. "Don't call me that!" I ignored him.

~Division 10~

"Konnichiwa, Hitsugaya-taichou."

"Please, add the 'kun' when we're alone. In public, 'taichou' is fine."

"Gomen, Hitsugaya-kun. What did you need?"

"I need to ask you something." He was in his chair facing to wall. He turned around to face me. But he didn't get up from his seat.

"What is it?"

"Promise you won't freak out."

"I swear, Hitsugaya-kun."

"Did you realize that your supposed to be a lieutenant, like Hinamori?"

"Yeah," I said, not surprised. I raised an eyebrow in a cool-like manner.

"Who told you?" I could sense jealousy behind his stoic exterior, like he wanted to be the first one to tell me.

"Unohana-taichou and Kotetsu-fukutaichou did." I raised an eyebrow, a trick I had picked up from my brother. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, nothing."

"How could you tell about me being a lieutenant?"

"There's this thing called sensing one's reiatsu."

"Oh…" He showed one of his rare smirks. I couldn't help but smile at this too.

"Anything else?" I said.

"Yeah, one more thing." He motioned with his index finger to come forward. He was still sitting down. I stepped all the way to the edge of his desk. "Lean closer…" That was a strange order. But I did it, nonetheless. I leaned into his face until out faces were about two inches away. Then he leaned forward and his lips met my cheeks. I felt my blue eyes almost pop out of my skull.

When we pulled away, my cheeks were beat red. I looked at him and I could tell he was blushing too, because of the faint pink color on his cheeks. It was a good thing we were alone, because I think Hitsugaya-kun would've died with embarrassment if we were in public. I probably would have too.

"Arigatou. Thanks for not getting hurt or falling into a trap like Hinamori."

"I tried not to, Hitsugaya-kun."

~At Night~

I was returning to my barracks after a half-day with Hitsugaya-kun. I had a wonderful time. I was in high spirits when I came back.

But I had encountered someone on my way back. Let me tell you about.

I was walking down the path. When I was suddenly ambushed by a weird man. He didn't tell me who he was, which is why I called it an ambush. He didn't say anything. I placed my hand on the hilt of my zanpaktou. Before I could draw Ryuu, His hand came out and grabbed my neck. He was choking me. Then he let go and ran off. I didn't know what the hell that was about. I didn't see what the man looked like. It was too dark. I started down the path again, but this time I felt short of breath somehow. I didn't know why.

The only thing I descried on the man was the scar on his chin.

~About two weeks later (About the time of Episode 81)~

"What?! The Omnitsukido failed?" Rangiku-san, Yumichika-kun, Hisagi-fukutaichou, Kira-kun, and I were standing outside. We had just heard the news that the Karakura Omnitsukido team had failed to protect the humans from the Bount dolls.

"Yes, they were defeated by some sort of Bount dolls," Hitsugaya-kun said, coming up to the five of us.

"What are we going to do?"

"Well, that's where you five come in. You've been requested to go to Karakura Town immediately. Three lieutenants and two seated squad members, one from the fighting division and the other from the healing division. You've already been written down on the list, so you must go at once."

"I can understand the lieutenants being here, and I can also see why Shiro-san is here," Yumichika said, gesturing to me. "But I really detest ugly things. How on earth did I get chosen for this mission?"

"When I talked to Zaraki, he said you were the one with the most free time," Hitsugaya-kun ever so calmly.

Yumichika was furious. "HE SAID WHAT?!"

Hitsugaya-kun didn't even bat an eyelid. "Is that a problem?" I had to stifle a laugh.

Yumichika immediately regretted making that comment, because he turned around with tears in his eyes. "No, Sir, I'm happy to go."

"Good," Hitsugaya-kun said. "We'll need to move fast, so get moving."

We nodded out heads, to show that we understood. The other four went ahead, but I stayed behind. I know I'm a really fast Shinigami, but this time I was lacking strength all of a sudden. I tried to run, but then I found it rather difficult to breathe. I stopped for a breath.

Then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped five feet. That really didn't make me feel any better. My lack of breath had gotten worse. I turned around and saw Hitsugaya-kun standing behind me, an expression of worry visible on his face. I looked behind him and noticed that the other four were standing there, waiting for me to join them. I tried to say, "I'm fine" but all that came out was an awful gagging and coughing. I was soon coughing and gagging so much, that my throat hurt and I felt my knees weaken tremendously. I knew I was shaking so violently, because then Rangiku came over with the other three and said, "Are you okay, Yuki-chan? You're quivering…"

But Hitsugaya held them back, as if telling them to give me my space. He was watching me intently and worriedly.

Then my knees gave away. I let go of my last line and fell into complete darkness and with me, my coughing, into Hitsugaya-kun's waiting arms.

~One Day Later~

I woke up with an oxygen mask on my face. My fellow squad members had put me on a somewhat high level of oxygen. I was thankful. I could breathe a lot easier than – how long ago was it? Oh, well. But I still had difficulty breathing somewhat still. But I felt much better.

I was so tired and my chest hurt. I didn't know what had happened to me. Somebody had probably performed the surgery of biopsy or something. Biopsy is a test surgery, if you didn't know.

I looked around the room. All of the captains, even Yamamoto-soutaichou, were in random places in the room. Hitsugaya-kun and Ukitake-taichou were right beside me by my bedside. Unohana-taichou was saying something, and I tuned my ears in a bit. Then I could make out was my captain was saying.

"It's called cardiomyopathy, viral cardiomyopathy."

"What is that exactly?" Kyouraku-taichou asked in a concerned voice.

My captain looked my way. "I see my fourth seat is up. Let me explain it now." They all looked my way. Hitsugaya-kun was wide eyed like he had been slapped.

Unohana-taichou walked over and grabbed my hand. I was glad for it; something told me this wasn't all that simple. I was right too.

"Your heart is a muscle. A virus has attacked your heart. It is destroying it." I gulped.

The captains all sat there dumfounded. I could even sense Yamamoto-soutaichou getting worried.

"Can you tell us what exactly is going on?" Komamura-taichou asked. Unohana sighed.

"Yuki Shiro is very sick I'm afraid. She is suffering from Dilated Cardiomyapathy. It is not exactly a good thing to have. I believe a virus caused it since Shiro-san, before contracting it, was relatively healthy," Kurotsuchi-taichou explained. He had probably helped my captain find out what was wrong with me.

Yamamoto-soutaichou nodded. "But what exactly is it?" He asked.

"Cardiomyapathy is a heart disease and I'm afraid of all Cardiomyapathy dilated is the most deadly form. The heart becomes enlarged and has difficulty pumping blood correctly and less blood is ejected. And the valves weaken making the heart eject less blood. Eventually fluid builds up on the lungs making it difficult to breath."

I took this all in. It sounded like a disease for an old man not me but I didn't argue with the diagnoses.

"What can you do about it?"

"I'm afraid, Soutaichou, that at this time there is no real cure. This is a fatal disease. I can give her respiratory therapy and meds to slow down the disease and relive symptoms but I'm afraid Shiro-san is dying," Unohana-taichou said, sadly.

Hitsugaya-kun beside me gulped. I was worried about him. He looked like he was going to faint. And he was standing up. If his knees gave away, they would probably be broken.

But me dying? My knees felt shaky and weak; I thought I might be sick. All my hopes, all my dreams were down the tube. All that work I had all done to keep my position in the Gotei 13, all the pushing was for nothing.

Ukitake-taichou licked his lips. He spoke everyone's question, but the most fearful of all for me. "How, how long Unohana-taichou? How long does Shiro-san have?" His voice shook a little but I could tell he willed it to stay as steady as he could. I couldn't do that right now. If I spoke right now, I would probably cry and then dye faster.

Unohana looked at me sadly. She looked like she'd want to tell me fifty or sixty years but I could tell she wasn't going to. She was always so trusting and honest. That's what I liked most about her. That made her my role model.

"If she wasn't a healer I'd say seven or eight, maybe even nine months but since she is well I'm afraid she only has two to four months. I'm sorry I am."

Two to four months… I wouldn't live to see fifteen, to see the spring. I felt a tear escape. I quickly wiped it away. I had to be tough; I had to be strong or I'd crack.

"I'll do everything I can to ease the pain, but other than that, I'm afraid I can't do anything about it."

Tears stung my eyes, but I wiped them away before anyone could see them.

~Two Weeks later~

Well, rumors spread very fast here in Sereitei. So in just two hours, every Shinigami in Soul Society knew that I was on my last legs. I was facing my final days. And there was nothing I could do about it.

But it was crazy. I mean, a healer who's sick. I'm a healer. I should be able to heal myself. But I couldn't. I couldn't do anything about it. I wasn't afraid of dying. But I was afraid of leaving behind two very important details. Hitsugaya-kun and Momo-chan.

They came to visit me often. But neither of them came to visit me at the same time. Ironic, huh? I just wanted so bad to see them both at the same time. There were so many people I wanted to talk to before I left forever.

~About two weeks later or so~

Usually Hitsugaya-kun would come and visit me at this time. But he didn't. I was getting really worried. Then it became REALLY hard to breathe. I started coughing and gagging once more. I could barely breathe. I thought I was going to die right then and there.

But luckily, Isane-san had heard me, and she came running into my room and started patting me on the back. She rubbed circles into my back, calming me down successfully, but I still couldn't breathe.

Then my fukutaichou turned up the oxygen level. My head fell back to my pillow. I was okay now.

Between my deep breaths, I managed to ask, "H-Hitsu…gaya...kun…w-where…is he?"

She just shushed me and told me to save my breath. But she said, "To be honest, I don't know Shiro-san. Just calm down. I'm sure he'll come around soon. And don't over-exhaust yourself. Get some rest."

I fell into my world of dreams, only dreaming about Hitsugaya-kun and Momo-chan and where they would be without me.

~A Few Days Later; Nighttime~

I woke up in the middle of the night. I woke up from a nightmare. I still hadn't seen Hitsugaya-kun since the day he disappeared. I was really starting to worry now. Had he forgotten about me? Had he given up on me? No, it wasn't likely. Hitsugaya-kun was thankfully not that kind of person.

He had either forgotten about me for a while, or he had visited me while I slept. It had to be the second one. It just had to be. I would've died by now if he didn't show up at night. And I was sleeping like twenty hours a day now. I felt so weak.

Then I sensed reiatsu, small amounts of it. There was more than one. There was something different about the reiatsu. I gasped. They were injured. I always had to help the injured. It was my intention. No matter what condition I was in, I had to help the wounded.

So I got up with out thinking, unhooked my oxygen tank, and took the mask off my face. That part was extremely difficult, but I wanted to do something fairly right for I died. I changed from my white healing yukata into my shihakusho and tied my blue sash ribbon around my waist. I picked up Ryuushiro from the side table and headed for the doors.

But then I remembered that I was being guarded by Shinigami from the first division, so then I headed for the window.

After a good long five minutes, I finally got down from my window. I sensed the reiatsu again and headed towards the site, hoping that I wasn't too late to help them.

~After Another Five Long Minutes~

I finally reached the site. The sky was dark and filled with stars. I looked around to see my old buddy Renji.

I slowly walked forward, just in case if it wasn't Renji. "R-Renji? Is that you?"

He turned around and when he saw me, he gave a visible look of worry. "Yuki-chan? Aren't you supposed to be in Squad 4, resting?"

"Y-yeah. Don't tell anyone, okay? Please? I'll get in trouble."

"You're already in trouble," he replied sarcastically.

I looked at the injured men. There were about six or eight of them. Without any hesitation, I drew Ryuushiro, went shikai, and one by one, I healed each of them.

When I was done, I asked, "Whose men?"

"Hitsugaya-taichou's."

"Really?" I was surprised. But really, surprisingly enough, I didn't cough that time.

"Yeah."

"Why are you here then? These are not your subordinates, so why are you here?" I asked Renji. I was curious.

"I was asked to watch over them," he said.

I was about to ask yet another question, but then a strong reiatsu cut me off. "What was that?" I asked when it had settled down.

"I don't know…" He looked in my direction. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I said. "If I pass out, Renji-kun, don't take me to Squad 4. Please, take me Squad 10. I want to see Hitsugaya-taichou again…"

I felt myself swaying on my feet. After a good two seconds, I prepared myself to meet the ground, but I was met by a strong pair of arms instead.

~Later that night~

I woke up to people talking. I was half-asleep but I could hear what they were saying after I tuned my ears a bit.

"Why the hell didn't you take her back to Squad 4 when she fainted, Abarai?" That voice was familiar.

"She requested me to take her here, sir," I heard Renji say back.

"Why?" The first voice shouted.

"Uhh, Inoue-san. You cannot heal her disease. Rangiku-san said that there was no cure for it," a different voice said. It also sounded familiar. That was when I realized that I was under a familiar orange barrier.

"I'm not healing her. I'm trying to help her breathe," Inoue-san said.

Then everyone was deathly quiet when I mumbled, "Shut up…I'm trying to sleep…" I opened my eyes all the way, and saw that I was still under the healing barrier. Inoue-san was right. I could breathe easier under Ayame's and Shuno's healing barrier. Inoue-san had told me what she could do and the names of her Shun Shun Rikka before she and her friends left for Karakura Town.

Inoue-san was about to put the barrier down when she saw that I was awake. "Don't!"

I didn't mean to shout. She looked at me puzzled.

"I can't breathe without any oxygen. Please, keep it up."

"Aww…poor thing…" The second voice, I then noticed, belonged to Kurosaki-san, the Substitute Shinigami. I wondered what he was doing here. But that faded from my mind when I set my sights on the first voice.

It was the person I'd thought I'd never see again. His white hair was still as wild and spiky as ever. His teal eyes were now burning with anger and agony, like it was his fault all this had happened.

"H-Hitsugaya...kun?" I asked.

"Don't talk…save your breath." Then he reached down, took me by the hand, and picked me up bridal style.

"W-where are we going?"

"Back to your room, where you really should be resting right now."

"No…I want to stay with you…I don't want to be alone."

"I'll stay for as long as I can in there, alright?" I really needed oxygen right now. I couldn't breathe. Hitsugaya must've noticed, because he shunpo'd faster.

When we got to my window, he looked extremely grateful that I had left it open. It was probably because he didn't want me to get in trouble. He quickly set me on the bed and put the mask back on me. He quickly turned it on. I immediately felt better and then without warning, I fell back into my land of dreams.

~24 hours later~

When I woke up next, it was still dark. Hitsugaya-kun was still by my bedside, which I was grateful for. When he started to say something but stopped suddenly, I closed my eyes, but I was still awake. I only wanted to make it better for him to say whatever he needed to get off his chest by faking that I was still asleep. Good idea, huh?

"Yuki-chan, I need to tell you something…When Unohana told us the truth about your health, I was really bothered. But when she told us you were dying, something inside me snapped. My knees were shaking so bad, I thought I was never going to walk again. My eyes were burning with tears, and I was speechless, like the other captains, but much worse. All of a sudden, it was getting difficult for me to breathe. I have to say this," his voice cracked a little, "and I really don't want to be interrupted. It's really important, and it's taken me up until now to realize it…but…I love you…not as a friend, but for real…" His voice was cracking for real now, like he was crying, "Please Yuki-chan…don't make me say goodbye…not yet…I love you too much…I would give anything to take your place right now…"

I was touched by his words of confession. He had a crush on me too. He loved me like I loved him. He actually said that he wanted so badly to take my place.

I opened my eyes and his head was on the bed, and his hands were curled up into fists. He looked like he was sleeping. When I got a better look at him, I found out that he was.

I weakly ran my hand through his spiky white hair. I thought it was actually going to be rough because it was spiky, but to my surprise, it was really soft. It was like the snow. White and soft.

"…I…love you too…Hitsugaya-kun…" I said weakly. I smiled. Now I knew how he really felt. Now all I needed to do was to show him how I felt. But the question was…how?

~Next Morning~

I woke up again. I was really tired, and I was only half awake. Besides I was listening to another person talk to me. Then it occurred to me that it was Momo-chan.

"So Yuki-chan…I heard you're at your final days. I know how you feel. I've been there. But luckily, you saved me. Thank you for that. But…who's going to save you? I'll find a way…trust me…I will…if not for me, then for you. Sayonara is too painful for me to say…it always has been… please, don't make me say it. And also Shiro-kun is pacing in his office…he's very agitated right now. But bye…for now, of course." I heard her leave.

I thought about what she had said. _'But…who's going to save you?'_

Well, I'll think about it later. I wanted to sleep right now.

~Two Hours Later~

I woke up to Hitsugaya-kun stroking my cheek tenderly. He was sitting on the edge of my bed.

"Huh? Hitsu…gaya…kun?"

He merely nodded.

"W-What are you doing here?"

"Looking after you…" He was so tender. Then I remembered. He loved me too. Besides, I was his childhood friend.

"You didn't–," I paused to take a deep breath, "–have to, you know…"

"Don't talk…save your breath." He scolded softly.

I just nodded to show that I understood. I kept breathing in and out.

"Yuki-chan?"

"Hmm?"

"How are you feeling…"

"I've felt much better than this…" I admitted. It was true. I felt worse than when I healed Hitsugaya-kun's men for him.

"Gomen…" Nani? He was blaming himself?

"It's not your fault I'm sick you know…" I started.

"I meant to say, 'Sorry for asking.' And save your breath. You need to catch your breath right now. You had a coughing fit about a half-hour ago. You were still asleep and, ironically, you never woke up from it."

"Oh."

Then I realized that he was still actually stroking my cheek gently. He probably noticed the red on my cheeks, but he didn't hesitate or pull his hand away. Talk about courage. I looked at his face and he smiled softly and sadly.

"Why are you–" I was cut off by him putting his index finger to his lips to shush me.

"I'm trying to take in and enjoy your presence while I can. Do you mind?" He asked.

"No…not at all…" He smiled.

"Now please catch your breath. They probably have you on the highest level of oxygen right now…"

I merely nodded. Before I went to sleep again, I felt a light pressure on my cheek near my lips. I felt bad. I had the mask on, so he couldn't kiss me where I wanted him to kiss me so badly.

He whispered, "Sweet dreams, Yuki-chan…"

~About Five Days Later~

I was asleep. I had been for days. Somehow I knew that I had been. I was tired, so very tired. I didn't know how much longer I could hang on but I wanted to hang on as long as I could. I wasn't afraid of dying. I knew I'd dissolve into reishi and be reincarnated into the real world when I died. I'd be out of pain, both physical and emotional. I'd have a new life. I'd thought of giving up a lot of times but then I'd remember two very important details, Hitsugaya-kun and Momo-chan.

I didn't want to leave them. Its not that I thought I'd never see them again, its that I knew how much my dying would hurt them. Momo-chan especially. She feels things so deeply and we're so close. But that's the way she is. Hitsugaya-kun would probably lock himself in his room like the time his academy friend died.

All of a sudden I began to dream. I saw a background of beautiful swirls of colors. The sunset at Sereitei wasn't anything like this. I got the sudden feeling that I wasn't dreaming, but dying. Its finally time. It's time to go.

A figure appeared both frightening and calming, both terrifying and beautiful. She wore a simple white robe with beige sash. She had long wild blond hair and clean skin with silver gold-flecked wings. Light seemed to illuminate from her but I was scared out of my wits, I thought she might be the angel of death. She sure seemed like it.

"Don't be afraid Yuki Shiro," her voice was calming, soothing not scary at all, "God loves you very much. He has heard your prayers and those of the ones you love. God has heard their cry. He has been with you every step of the way in life and he is with you still. He will always be with you. Remember this and have peace." With that she was gone and with her my aches and pain.

My eyes opened. I hadn't opened my eyes in so long. I could breathe with ease. I felt tired but no half as much as before. I felt so peaceful, so at ease. I turned my head. Momo-chan was asleep beside me. I ran my fingers through her hair.

She opened her eyes to meet my familiar brilliant navy blue eyes. Her best friend.

"Yuki-chan? Is that you?" she asked surprise. I cocked an eyebrow. Her heart was probably racing. She stared long and hard at me.

My lips no longer had a bluefish tint to them. I had also gotten some color back, not that yellow pasty color either. Momo lifted her head toward Heaven. I wasn't dying anymore. People were supposed to be happy. "Thank you God, thank you so much," she whispered. "I have my best friend back."

She smiled at me. "I'm going to call Hitsugaya-kun and get Unohana-taichou. You stay there." Not that I could get up but I gave her a look that said I would and Momo was off.

Two minutes later, Unohana-taichou came in with Kotetsu-fukutaichou. They took one look at me and smiled. Hanatarou went up to me and hugged me. I gladly returned the sibling-like affection. I smiled.

The door opened. In came Rangiku-san, and behind her was Hitsugaya-kun, who was obviously expecting the absolute worse.

"Yuki-chan?!" Hitsugaya-kun was aghast. I was sitting on the edge of the bed; no ventilator, no fluids, no nothing. "How in the….."

"God given miracle. We can't explain this any other way," Isane-san said, hugging me happily while I returned it the same way.

He went over to me and hugged me tightly. He whispered playfully in my ear, "I didn't get a chance to say goodbye." I just smiled.

~Later~

It turned out that the man with the scar was in Soul Society, along with his Bount friends. His name was Kariya. It also turned out that Kariya was the one who had given me the heart disease in the first place. And each time he got stronger, I would get weaker. So basically, I had a link to him. But I didn't resurrect right when he disappeared. I had resurrected by God's own will.

Now I was walking down the hallway, still in my yukata, because I was still getting my spiritual power back. I wanted to see Rukia-chan.

I got to her room. She was sitting outside with Kurosaki-san and Renji-kun. They were all surprised to see me walking around.

"Kurosaki-san?" I said.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Arigatou, for everything…"

"You're welcome. I knew he wanted to make you sick from the start. I could feel it," Kurosaki said.

I smiled. I was so lucky to have a friendship with the four saviors of Soul Society. Rukia motioned for me to sit in between her and Kurosaki-san. I gladly accepted. Together we all watched the sunset.

~2~2~2~2~

A/N: Hope you enjoyed Part 2. Let me know what you think! Review please!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Enjoy! Story still in Yuki's POV. Part 3 takes place in the Arrancar arc.

~3~3~3~3~

Part 3

I was walking down the halls of Karakura High School alone. What happened to me after Kariya was defeated? I'll tell you.

I was just enjoying my business in Sereitei when I got a summons from Yamamoto-soutaichou. I walked toward the Squad 1 barracks, vaguely wondering what I could be in trouble for. I mean, they were having a captain meeting right at the moment. When I finally got there, I had to wait outside, so the guards could tell the Head Captain that I had arrived. When the doors opened, there stood all ten captains for once. Ukitake-taichou had been sick for a while now, and so I wasn't the only one who was sick while the Bounts were attacking. Anyways, the Head Captain ordered me to go to the world of the living at once. So I did, and I met Kurosaki-san and the others again. They never told me why I was here, probably to help fight the Hollows or something.

Then that night, a vizard attacked. His name was Shinji Hirako. That night we also found out that Isshin Kurosaki was also a Shinigami. That was a pretty long night. Very confusing too.

Now I was walking the halls, saying hello to a few people along the way. Then my Soul Phone picked up something that I barely recognized. I immediately pulled out my Soul candy and swallowed it, and transformed into a Shinigami after I did.

I ran out to a field where there was a large crater. I wondered what had happened. Then I saw Kurosaki-san getting pounded and hammered to the ground. I got really mad. Nobody hits him like that but Rukia-chan!

I reached to my waist and unsheathed Ryuushiro. I narrowed my eyes. I finally landed on the ground between Kurosaki-san and this weird Hollow dude. He was big. He raised his hand and formed it into a fist. He brought it down.

I didn't know how fast I really was until his fist slammed into my sword. He looked at me straight in my eyes. I stared back. I narrowed my eyes. Then I broke the silence.

"Oi, Kurosaki-san." He looked up at me. "You alright?"

"I-I think so…" He stammered. I sighed a breath of relief.

I turned to look at the Hollow dude. Then my eyes went wide. That was no Hollow. That was…an Arrancar…

The Arrancar slammed his fist into my sword again, knocking me off my feet. He was about to hit me again, but then someone blocked it for me. He was wearing a green and white-stripped hat and clogs.

"Urahara-san! Yuroichi-san!" Kurosaki-san and I yelled at the same time. Indeed, they were.

The Arrancar tried attack but Yuroichi beat him up. Urahara-san fought him some more until and a white guy with green eyes, and looked like he was emo, said, "Stop it!" He flicked his wrist and a black rip appeared in the air and became larger. "It's time we deliver our report to Aizen-sama. We'll tell him that the Shinigami he's interested in has no value whatsoever."

He said, 'Aizen-sama…' They were definitely Arrancars.

The next day at school, Kurosaki-san came in with a bandaged head. Everyone kept asking him what was wrong, but he refused to tell anybody. Inoue-san also came in with a bandaged head and a broken arm. They refused to tell anybody what was wrong. Sado-san didn't come in at all. I learned from Inoue-san that his right arm was broken. But, I, on the other hand, had no injuries whatsoever; unless you count a sore back an injury.

Kurosaki-san and I were in the classroom after school, because of cleaning duty. I was talking to him and trying to snap him out of his misery. He was cleaning the chalkboard and I was just standing there, because I was already done.

"Seriously, Kurosaki-san. Don't beat yourself up over it. Don't make me get on to Hitsugaya-kun." He gave me the crazy look, so I went on. "Hitsugaya-kun beat himself up over Momo-chan getting injured. If it wasn't for me, Momo-chan and Hitsugaya-kun would've died." His crazy look turned to a sad one. I caught it. "Please? Kurosaki-san?"

Then the doors opened and my eyes widened at the sight of the craziest group I have ever seen. Was this the best Yamamoto-soutaichou could do?

"Huh? R-Renji? Toshirou? Wait just a damn minute! What the hell are you guys doing here?"

Hitsugaya-kun got a tick mark. "That's Hitsugaya-taichou to you…" I stifled a giggle.

"What are you guys doing here?" Kurosaki-san asked again.

"Orders from above," Renji-kun said. "We've been sent here to help to Substitute Shinigami fought the Arrancars."

"Arrancars?"

I got a sweat drop. Oh, crap. I forgot to tell him about the newly finished Arrancars. "What? You mean that you have no idea what you've been dealing with? Yuki!" I ducked my head to hide my embarrassment. "Why the hell didn't you tell him?!"

"Excuse me!" I retorted back. It became almost deathly quiet. "It's not my fault Kurosaki-san and I have been going through a lot!"

"You dummy! He's talking about those guys who beat you up the other day!" There was a shout from the window.

"…Rukia…"

Yes, it was Rukia. She got her powers back!

"Is that…Rukia?"

"Yeah, but I think she just climbed in through the window."

"Idiot. Wherever she was, I'm sure that there were doors…" Stupid school kids. Soul Society did have doors. But windows were more fun.

Just then Rukia leapt from the window ledge and kicked Kurosaki-san in the face. I threw her the red skull glove, which she caught and brought Kurosaki's Shinigami self out. They went out of the window and I just stood there dumbfounded.

"Now why the hell didn't I think of that?" I asked my companions.

"I knew this wasn't going to be easy," Rangiku remarked.

"Can't blame Rukia for giving him hell," Ikkaku commented, "what with that stupid look on his face." I had to agree with him.

"I thought he looked more helpless and cute than stupid," said Matsumoto.

"When don't you think the opposite sex is cute?" Yumichika inquired. He does have a point, Rangiku-san.

"Oh shut up and mind your own business, Yumichika." Oh, you got burned, Yumichika-kun.

"Ikkaku talked too. Why aren't you saying anything to him?" I forgot about him…

"Hey, leave me out of this."

"Oh this is ridiculous! All of you, shut up!" Hitsugaya-kun exclaimed. I giggled. This was how things usually went.

I glanced at the back of the room, where some school students gossiped amongst each other.

"What did they do to Kurosaki?!"

"They knocked him unconscious."

"Or maybe they killed him."

"Whatever. All I know is they don't look like anyone I'd wanna mess with."

"Yeah, I mean check out the tattoos on the redheaded one."

Renji growled at the gossipers. "Don't let 'em get to ya', Renji," Ikkaku muttered. "It's just humans and their dumb gossip."

"Well, the chick doesn't look so scary. And the little one looks like an elementary student with silver hair. The little girl is so short, she's probably in great need of a growth spurt."

I got a tick mark. "Did he just call me 'little girl'?" I asked my friends.

"He's just stating a fact," Renji said. I growled. He backed off.

"The pretty boy can't be too tough. And then there's Baldy," the student continued.

Obviously, they struck a nerve, because Ikkaku turned around menacingly. "Whoever just called me Baldy is gonna pay for that," he hissed, placing his hand on his sword.

"Don't let it get to you, Ikkaku," Renji mocked, dropping Kurosaki's limp body. "It's just humans and their dumb gossip."

Nevertheless, Ikkaku drew his sword, causing the stragglers to scatter in fear.

"I can't believe I got stuck with these idiots," Hitsugaya-kun muttered to me.

A few minutes passed on. Hitsugaya-kun and I were the only ones quiet. Then the door opened.

"Hey! Who's the one causing a disturbance in here? Don't you know that's my job?!" Keigo Asano shouted. I liked him. He always cheered everyone up.

He was cut short by Ikkaku-san grabbing the front of his shirt.

"Who are you? Well, speak up! You shaggy little worm! Or I'll cut you up into little sausages and feed you to the dog for breakfast!"

Rangiku-san slapped his bald head to make him shut up. "There, there, Baldy. Chill out."

"Keep slapping my head like that Rangiku, that is, if you want to lose your hand."

"Shut up!" I shouted. I couldn't take it anymore. "Cut your whining or I'll have to tell Yachiru-chan about this!"

That obviously got him. Score for me. "No, no, don't. I'll behave. I swear."

"Yuki-chan shouldn't have to remind you," Rangiku-san said. Then she turned around and clapped her hand a few times. "Now as for the rest of you idiots, let's get a move on, we've got a lot to do!"

"Your reference to 'idiots' couldn't have included me now, could it?"

"Of course not, Taichou! You're not like the rest of them!" Then Keigo-kun said something totally perverted and then Rangiku punched him.

We all walked out stepping around Keigo-kun.

"Aww, poor Keigo-kun. You think he's going to be alright?" I took pity on him.

"Dammit, Shiro, stop taking pity on every injured person," Ikkaku told me in a commanding voice.

"Well, excuse me, Madarame, it's not my fault I'm a healer!" I retorted.

This would've gone on for hours, but Hitsugaya-kun and Yumichika-kun told us to shut the hell up.

~Ichigo's house~

Now, we were in Kurosaki-san's house. Ikkaku, Yumichika, Renji, and Rangiku hid in Kurosaki's light fixture. He got mad when they came out. Toshirou and I had just sat on the roof.

Right now, Renji and I were explaining the Arrancars to Kurosaki-san. Rukia-chan was holding up her beautiful drawings to illustrate our lecture.

"As far as Arrancars go, they are simply Hollows who have abandoned their masks and claimed the powers of a Shinigami," Renji said.

"Until now there have only been a few incomplete ones. However, when Aizen acquired the Hokyoku, he was able to complete their transformations," I said.

"Thus, resulting in the two you saw earlier today. You with us so far?" Renji said.

"Yeah, though it would be clearer without the crappy drawings." Rukia threw her sketchbook at his face.

"Anyway, when we first found out about this, Soul Society was planning to quietly supervise Aizen from afar," I continued. "The 13th division and two lieutenants had doubts about this, however."

"Then before we knew it, the completion had been finished," Renji said. "They were sent to the human world before we could make any preparations. At the last minute, an advanced squad was formed to scope things out," He pointed at himself, "That's us."

"You guys were chosen?"

"Yep, by the Soutaichou himself. Central 46 has been vacant ever since Aizen killed all of its members. So the choice making has been passed on to Yamamoto. Yuki was chosen to go ahead first, because Yamamoto-soutaichou had a feeling that you guys would have some serious injuries with your first encounter with the Arrancars."

"So the old man does have a heart," Kurosaki-san said. I stifled a giggle.

"Rukia was chosen cause she's the one who knows you best," Renji went on.

"That's not true!" Rukia protested. "I was chosen for my abilities!"

"There weren't many officers to choose from. I was closer to both Rukia and Yuki than most, so they chose me. Then I was told to pick outside the captain class whom I most trusted to fight by my side. That's why I asked Ikkaku to come with me. After that, Yumichika also decided he wanted to come. Then Rangiku thought it would be fun, so she decided to tag along too. And since Rangiku wanted to come so badly, Hitsugaya-taichou felt like he had to accompany her as well…and…here we are…"

Both Kurosaki-san and I voiced each other's thoughts. "Is this a mission or a party?"

"Moving on…" We all looked toward the window. "Aizen has his eye on you, Ichigo Kurosaki, and that's not good."

"Ah, Taichou! You should've come up in the ceiling with us. We didn't cause that much damage after all!"

"Have you been out on the window ledge all this time? What if some neighbor reported some silver-haired elementary student burglar?" Renji did have a point. But his hair is not silver. It's white.

"Shut up!" he continued. "It is true that Arrancars are Hollows that have removed their masks. The problem is, even if Hollows take off their mask, there isn't much they can initially do. Especially if they truly wish to fight Soul Society. In order to achieve their aim, Arrancars must somehow become stronger than any Menos."

"Stronger than…a Menos…? What are you talking about? There is no Hollow stronger than any Menos, is there?" Kurosaki-san asked Hitsugaya-kun.

"Yes…" I said. "In fact, the Menos are separated into three catergories. The first kind is 'Gillian'. These are the weakest type of Menos. Comparing them to human hierarchy, they would be considered 'foot soldiers'. There are many of them, and they all look and act the same. In the textbooks we have on Menos Grande in Soul Society, these are always the ones that are depicted. The Menos you fought with shortly before entering Soul Society to rescue Rukia-chan was a Gillian."

"Those guys…were foot soldiers?"

"They are gigantic, but they're also slow and stupid. A captain won't even break a sweat against one of them. The problem, however, lies ahead. The second class: 'Adjucas'. They are smaller and more uncommon than a Gillian. A Gillian's battle prowess and intelligence pale in comparison to one of these. The only thing that the Gillians outweigh them in is sheer population. Lastly, we have the third class: 'Vastolorde'. They are the most powerful of any Menos, and their size resembles a human more than any Hollow. Their numbers are unbelievably small, and they are known only to exist deep within Hueco Mundo, but…" I paused, "Let me just say this. The strength of a single Vastolorde is above that of ANY Shinigami captain."

Everyone's eyes went really wide.

"In addition to that, we don't even know how many Arrancars there are in total and we are missing three captains. I have told you all I know about the Menos. Just let me give you my personal prediction. As of right now, including Aizen…if there exists over ten Vastolordes…then Soul Society…is doomed."

~Later; Outside Ichigo's house~

"Well, I'm going off," I said, after Hitsugaya-kun and Rangiku-san left for Inoue's and Madarame and Ayasegawa left for only God knows where. I waved to Rukia-chan and Kurosaki-san.

"Where are you going?" Kurosaki-san asked.

"I'm going off to bed!" I said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I'm going to Urahara-san's. That's where I'm staying. Take care!"

Then I heard Renji say, "I'm, uh, going to go to Kisuke's too." Then Renji turned and followed me.

"Okay! You two be careful now!" Rukia-chan said before both Renji-kun and I walked to Urahara-san's.

~At Urahara's~

The shy girl, Ururu, brought us our drinks. She wouldn't stop looking Renji-kun straight in the eye.

"Weird face…"

"Hey!" He blushed. "I do not have a weird face!" She just giggled and left.

That night after I went to bed, I lie awake thinking about the Arrancars. What if they attacked after I fell asleep? But no matter how hard I tried I couldn't stay awake.

After about one hour after I fell asleep, the little boy with red hair shook me awake.

"Jinta-kun?" I asked, sitting up and rubbing my eyes.

"We need you. There's an Arrancar outside the shop," he said. Worry was rapidly seeping into his voice. "It's attacking Abarai. And Abarai appears to be loosing…"

Something inside me clicked, and I immediately got up from my futon, transforming into a Shinigami as I went. I went outside onto the roof and I saw Renji-kun fighting a long blonde haired Arrancar.

"Oh, and who is this, Shinigami?" The Arrancar asked Renji-kun.

"That's Yuki." Renji paused and then said, "Hey! Leave her out of this! This is our fight."

They started fighting again. That's when I noticed Renji-kun in bankai form. Uh-oh…this cannot be good. I looked at Jinta who was by my side, also watching, and I noticed someone else. I think it just got worse.

"Ururu! What are you doing out of bed?" Jinta asked.

"Jinta-kun's right, Ururu-chan. Please go back to bed…" then my voice faded out because I noticed something. The Arrancar's reiatsu was affecting her in every way possible. Her blue eyes were blank.

She jumped up to the Arrancar's level. She said some insults at him, and then she started punching the crap out of him. When he was bleeding from the head and mouth, he said, "No one defeats me and lives to tell about it…" Then he released his zanpaktou. He was so different now, like an animal.

Jinta grabbed Ururu and went to strike the Arrancar, but the hit didn't affect it at all. The Arrancar was about to kill them both, but I didn't know how fast I actually was until I landed on the roof of the shop. I had grabbed Jinta and Ururu, who had fainted, out of harm's way. Renji breathed a sigh of relief. So did I.

Renji and the Arrancar fought some more. I noticed the Arrancar's fighting power. He was taunting Renji-kun and then attacking him. Renji was loosing blood. Then someone appeared beside me. My eyes went wide.

"Ririn!" The Mod Souls had arrived.

"Yes, it's me. Renji! It's okay…" The Mod Souls fought for a little while, but then the Arrancar sliced them down. He was right beside me, about to cut me down too, but before he could, I had halfway unsheathed Ryuushiro, blocking his attack.

"I don't think so…" I said. I unsheathed Ryuu all the way and shouted, "Freeze and Heal, Ryuushiro!" The eight-foot light-blue ribbon appeared at the end of the hilt.

I had a problem though. I couldn't heal him. That would only make him stronger.

{Snowy…} I heard Ryuu call.

'Yeah, Ryuu?'

{Remember that attack that you mastered in the Academy? Suzushouka? Remember?}

'Oh, yeah…you want me to use that?' I asked.

{Hai.}

So I listened to Ryuu. I waved my sword at the Arrancar and shouted, "Suzushouka!" I blast of ice in the form of a bell went in the Arrancar direction. It hit his shoulder.

"Hahahahaha!" The Arrancar laughed. My victorious smile faded into a frown. Then I made another choice. Ryuu had taught me this attack after I had recovered from my disease.

"I don't what will happen if I use this attack if I haven't mastered it yet, but I'll use it anyway!" I shouted. I raised my reiatsu a little. "Kiba Koori!" The attack hit him square in the chest, and it seemed to weaken him by 20%, and I felt a little weak. I held my head. I had a somewhat bad headache.

"Yuki!" I turned around. Renji had called me. He was standing in a smoke circle. "Stand back…Gentei Kaijo is put on captains and lieutenants to keep unwanted spirits from gathering. It can limit our powers to 20%. Which means," Renji motioned Zabimaru to attack, which was so much stronger and faster that before. Then I remembered, they had used Gentei Kaijo, "WE'RE FIVE TIMES STRONGER!! YUKI! ACTIVATE GENTEI KAIJO NOW!" What? I had it too? "Yuki! You have a lieutenant level reiatsu! Yes, you have it too!" I nodded, but I was confused. Could he read minds?

"Activating Gentei Kaijo!" I yelled as my division flower, the bellflower, on my neck glowed and then cracked and disappeared. My reiatsu went off the charts. I smiled.

"Let's attack together, Yuki!" I nodded.

"SUZUSHOUKA!!" I shouted as Renji shouted, "HIKOTSU TAIHOU!" (I think that's right. Correct me of I'm wrong.)

Zabimaru let out a burst of energy in the form of a ball and Ryuushiro let out a burst of ice in the form and shape of a bell. The Arrancar let out a girly scream and he was gone for good. I ran to Renji who was kneeling on the ground using Zabimaru as a cane.

"Renji-kun!" I said.

"I'm glad that Gentei Kaijo granted us the power of surprise," he mumbled to me.

"…Otherwise, we might not have been so fortunate," I finished. When I sheathed Ryuushiro, I held my right hand against his shoulder. "Hold still…" My hand glowed an unusual gold color. In just five seconds, all of Renji's wounds were healed.

"W-What was that?" Renji asked.

"My true healing power…" I said. "I don't know if I was born with it, or if I gained it. One day in Rukongai, I just healed a little girl who had a bruised knee. But, Renji, you can't tell anyone, not even the Soutaichou. He doesn't know about it yet. Neither does Unohana-taichou. The only ones who know about it are Hitsugaya-kun and Momo-chan. And now you do too. Don't worry, I'll show the others myself."

Then Renji got up after saying his promise, and I followed him to where Kurosaki-san was. He was kneeling on the ground. He got up when we neared him.

"Oi. Kurosaki-san, did you win?" I asked, gently.

"…No…I lost…" I felt sad.

"You stupid idiot," Renji said. "The fact that your still alive means that you've won."

"You know that's not true," Kurosaki-san said. "If you were me, you'd feel the same way."

"He is stating a fact you know, Renji-kun…" I said. "Well, let's go see how Inoue-san's doing…"

When we got to Inoue-san, we found her on the roof of an apartment. She healing Rukia-chan, who got stabbed in the stomach by the Arrancar that Kurosaki-san was fighting. I walked up to Kuroskai-san and healed him the same way I healed Renji-kun. Everyone that was there, besides Hitsugaya-kun and Renji-kun, seemed awed at the sight of the golden glow.

When the five seconds where done, I walked over to Hitsugaya-kun, whose shihakusho's top was off and replaced with white bandages, which wrapped around his whole torso. I could only guess that the Arrancar he had been fighting cut up his beautiful chest. His haori was draped over his shoulders. I knew this wasn't the right time for hilarious comments, but I thought he actually looked kinda hot and sexy. He really was buff. I blushed when I noticed my thoughts.

I pushed those thoughts aside and healed Hitsugaya-kun with yet again the same way I healed Renji-kun and Kurosaki-san. When I was done healing him, I leaned my head on Hitsugaya-kun's shoulder and watched Inoue-san heal Rukia-chan.

~The Next Day~

Something was wrong today. How did I know? Rukia-chan, who was healed, was running around like something was after her.

"Oi. Rukia-chan! What happened? What the hell is chasing you?" I asked.

"Nothing is chasing me," she said, breathless. "I'm looking for Ichigo. Have you seen him?"

I shook my head. "Ie. Gomen. I haven't seen him since last night."

She sighed. "I'm really worried."

"So am I," I said.

So I ran to Inoue-san's house, hoping to receive some comfort from Hitsugaya-kun or Rangiku-san. I was in great need of Hitsugaya-kun's stoic words right now. I had a lot of troubles on my shoulders.

But when I got there, I went to the basement because I didn't find anyone anywhere else. I found Hitsugaya-kun, Rangiku-san, and Inoue-san standing in front of a screen. Then a kid from Division 12 appeared on the screen.

"Hello, we will be connecting you with someone shortly," Rin-kun said. Then, the Soutaichou appeared in his place.

"Yamamoto-soutaichou," I said, bowing slightly.

"Hello," he said. "We have found Aizen's true motive."

"I can see this is a Shinigami thing, so I'll just leave," Inoue-san said.

"This is probably a Captain and lieutenants only thing as well, so I'll be going along too," I added. We both turned to walk toward the door, but then we were stopped suddenly.

"Wait," the Soutaichou said. "This involves all of you, including the humans as well."

Then Yama-jii told us the story how Ukitake-taichou had found Aizen's true motive. Since Aizen now had the Hokyoku in his grasp, he could awaken it. When it was awakened, in the winter, he would create a 'spiritual key' and assassinate the Soul King and set himself up as the Soul King, destroying Karakura Town in the process. All of us were surprised.

"In the winter, we shall fight! No one rests until we have prepared for battle!" Yama-jii declared. Then he told us to tell the other Shinigami. We all said we would go. But before Hitsugaya-kun and I could even take one step, Yama-jii told us to stay put.

"There is someone here who would like to speak to the both of you." He stepped into the background, and someone familiar stepped forward in his place.

My eyes went wide, and I spoke first after a somewhat long period of silence. "Momo-chan?" It was Momo, because she smiled when she heard my voice. "How are you feeling? Are you feeling better than before?"

"Oh, yes. A lot better. Thanks to you, Yuki-chan, I'm fine now," she said gratefully.

"Oh, thank God," I said.

"You look tired Hinamori. You should sleep some more. You have bags under your eyes," Hitsugaya-kun said.

"I know," Momo-chan said.

"Well, she's not done healing yet," I said. "This is the longest period of time that Ryuushiro has healed someone, and it takes a while for the wounds to fully heal. But you'll heal, Momo-chan! Trust me!"

"I do! While I've been in bed, my whole life has flashed before my eyes. It's very scary. You should try it one of these days, just to know what it's like." She sounded sad all of a sudden. She sounded like she was the only one who was in bed for a long period of time with a huge wound.

"As if I hadn't already…" I muttered, making a deadly silence fill the room. "Momo-chan! I already know what it feels like! I've been there once, and I certainly don't plan on going there again! Yes, your whole life does flash before your eyes, but I was much worse than you! Your wound was decided unfazed. But my wound was decided fatal. I actually died, Momo-chan! But thank God I came back to life. You were there when it happened, Momo-chan…" My eyes were stained with unshed tears.

"Gomen, Yuki-chan…I forgot about that…but are you two going against Aizen?"

"Yes, why?" Hitsugaya-kun asked.

"Instead of killing him, could you save him? Please Hitsugaya-kun. Save him. I know there's still good in him."

Hitsugaya-kun's fists clenched and he narrowed his teal eyes. I fidgeted. I always had an uneasy feeling around Aizen. Momo-chan was getting out of control. But luckily we were saved by Yama-jii, who gently knocked Momo-chan unconscious with his hand. He apologized for Momo's outburst and then the screen went blank.

TO BE CONTINUED…

~3~3~3~3~

A/N: Hope you liked it! Suzushouka is Japanese for 'Singing Bell'. Kiba Koori is Japanese for 'Ice Fang.' Review, please!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Enjoy! This chapter is pretty sad at the end. Still in Yuki's POV. Sorry, I didn't update as soon as possible. I hope this update makes the best of it!

~4~4~4~4~

Part 4

I was walking down a side road, looking for Hitsugaya-kun. I checked my Soul Phone once again. That's been like the tenth time I checked. He still didn't answer. Then I heard some voices. I saw Hitsugaya-kun standing there in front of four boys and one girl, Karin, Ichigo's sister.

"Oi~! Hitsuga~ya-ku~n!" Everyone looked in my direction.

Hitsugaya-kun sighed, and said, "Nanika?"

My smile quickly faded to a frown. "Where the hell have you been? Were you here all day? I've been calling you nonstop for three hours straight!"

He sweat-dropped and blushed dramatically. It was obvious he was speechless.

"That's right! Everyone's been worried about you! It's time for dinner anyway! Come on!" I grabbed his hand and pulled him away from the five kids, but not before sending Karin a very cold stare. She wouldn't dare take my Hitsugaya-kun away from me!

~Later~

After dinner, Hitsugaya-kun had walked out, again. What was on his mind? I went after him about ten minutes later. I again, found him with Karin, the same girl from earlier. I decided not to make my presence known just quite yet, so I completely sealed my reiatsu and didn't say anything.

Karin grabbed Hitsugaya-kun's arm. "Wait!"

"What?" He turned to look at her.

"I need to ask you something…" Luckily, she was interrupted by the ringing of a phone. At first I thought it was mine, but then I realized it was both Hitsugaya-kun's and mine. That was close. Then the ringing stopped.

'Rangiku-san must've taken care of it…' I thought. Then I paid attention to the two 'lovebirds' again.

"Who is she?"

"What do you mean?" Hitsugaya-kun asked.

"The girl with the blue hair, who is she to you?" I knew she was talking about me.

"She's just a friend of mine. Why?" That broke my heart. Why didn't he want to say that I was his childhood friend or something?

"Oh, well. Can you ask her to…umm…" She stuttered. She definitely likes him. "…help us with our game tomorrow?" Oh, that's what she wanted to ask. But she still stuttered.

"Well, we're both kinda busy tomorrow…but I'll ask her…" I wasn't going. Not even if she was one of my patients.

This time, it was my Soul Phone that rang. That caught the two's attention. There was another Hollow. I held up my opened Soul Phone for Hitsugaya-kun to see. I was 99.9% close to crying in front of them.

"Hitsugaya-kun…there's another one…" I whimpered out.

He was silent for a second. "I'll be there soon. Go on ahead." I nodded and ran off.

When I reached the Hollow I wasn't met by Hitsugaya-kun. I was met by Rangiku-san. What the hell…? Why didn't he come? We both destroyed the Hollow and then we went back to Inoue-san's house. There I told Rangiku-san the conversation I heard between Hitsugaya-kun and Karin while fiercely crying my heart out. I was getting that helpless and useless feeling again. Rangiku-san merely frowned and shook her head.

~In the Morning~

In the morning, I felt a little better. Rangiku-san and I were on the roof, talking.

"Wait a minute…" Rangiku-san said. "You're jealous because you think Taichou likes the human more than you?" She burst out laughing. "HAHAHAHAHA!! That's so hilarious!!"

"Shut up before someone hears you!" I hissed at her.

I wasn't mad at Karin anymore. I was mad at Hitsugaya-kun. He didn't show up for Hollow duty last night. Rangiku-san did. I got up.

"Where do you think you're going?" Rangiku-san asked. "Ikkaku and Yumichika are on lookout, remember?"

"Yeah, I know. I'm going to help her."

"Who? With what?" She was clueless.

"None of your business…" I said. With that, I left for that soccer field.

~At the Soccer Field~

I walked out of the dust. I heard the boys say things with excitement.

"Hey, look!" said the kid with the red shirt and black hair.

The kid with the glasses exclaimed, "It's Aqua!" I guess that was their nickname for me.

"She actually came!" The kid with the yellow highlights in his black hair shouted.

The kid with the Afro exclaimed, "Toshirou is true to his word!" Well of course he is. That's what makes him Hitsugaya-kun.

Karin smiled and called a timeout. Then she turned to me and said, "You actually came!"

"Let's just say a certain someone made me…" I said, smiling. You know who I was thinking about…

Game time! All six of us were lined up. I was facing the leader. I growled. Donny passed me the ball. I caught it with my foot. I smirked at him. Then I ran. I could hear Karin and the boys cheering me on. I kicked the ball with great force toward the net. The guy caught it but then dropped it. I scored!

We went again. 'Red' passed me the ball this time. I ran like the wind. But then, I felt a horrible pain on my ankle as I slowly fell to the ground. It was horrible! It hurt like hell had gone loose. Now I was on the ground, clutching my ankle and whimpering from the pain.

Everyone crowded around me. Then a miscellaneous voice called out, "OUT OF MY WAY!"

I wondered dimly who it was. I was in too much pain to think. But the voice sounded awfully familiar.

"Toshirou!" Oh. Why the hell was he here?!

"I said, 'Out of my way', you idiots!" He pushed through the crowd and finally kneeled down beside me. I felt a tiny bit better now that he was here. His voice turned soft and gentle. "Are you alright? Yuki-chan?"

Despite my pain, I managed to whimper, "N-no…"

I felt a cold hand touch my ankle softly. I clenched my teeth in pain. It hurt so badly! Hitsugaya-kun stopped right away when he realized that he was causing me to be in more pain than I already was.

"Hey! That's cheating!" I heard 'Red' said. "You can't injure people!"

"Hey, we got away with bruising the other girl's knee. We can get away with breaking Aqua's ankle."

"Only we can call her that!" Donny defended me.

"Too bad, squirt…"

Then we all shut up, for Hitsugaya-kun had a very cold and evil aura surrounding him. "Whoever hurts her…will have to die…by my hands…" Then he looked the leader in the eyes, who immediately looked away, unable to meet Hitsugaya-kun's cold eyes. I knew how he felt. "No one hurts her like that…Let's continue the game, shall we?"

A few minutes later, I felt a Hollow's reaitsu. I looked to see that Karin's team had won. I felt happy, but then I remembered the Hollow.

"Hitsugaya-kun! Karin-chan! Behind you!" I screamed. It was literally behind them. The Hollow appeared. Hitsugaya-kun disappeared for a few seconds, and during that time Karin tried to take the Hollow out with a stinkin' soccer ball when she found out it was walking in my direction! I guess I do have to give her credit for trying to protect me.

A couple minutes later, after the Hollow was purified, I watched as Hitsugaya-kun helped Karin up. I don't know why, but I felt a burning in my heart. I felt surprised. Rangiku-san was right. I was jealous.

But didn't have to worry for long, because right then Hitsugaya-kun went to me.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his face looking sympathetically at me. I merely shook my head. "That's too bad," he smirked. "I guess you can't be on lookout with me tonight then…"

That caught my attention. "What? Wait! No!" I wailed.

He chuckled. "I'm kidding." He held his hand against my ankle as gently as possible. "Now hold still."

And a few minutes later, I could walk just fine again. He had healed me.

~At Sparring Match~

The next day or so, Hitsugaya-kun and I were called to participate in something that Ikkaku was participating in. We were now in a classroom with Keigo-kun and Ikkaku.

Hitsugaya-kun was demanding to know why he should do this. While he and Ikkaku were having it out, a guy, Shinji, I think, came in and said, "That's great! I knew my brother in grade school had some gear that fits you perfectly!"

Hitsugaya-kun's eyebrow twitched. I leaned in toward Shinji's face.

"I wouldn't mention 'grade school' in front of him if I were you…" I warned.

Then Hitsugaya-kun grabbed Ikkaku's shirt in fury. "MADARAME! YOU'RE GONNA PAY!!"

Then Renji-kun came in, claiming that he and Chad had training. Ikkaku said that bribes were always necessary at times like these. Then they started fighting, but I broke them up, calmly saying, "Uh, guys…it's almost time for the match. And…you're still a member short…"

Ikkaku grabbed a helmet and kneeled in front of Rangiku and me.

"Please help us out! I beg you!"

Rangiku and I held our noses. What was that atrocious smell? "We won't do it. We don't want our hair to be smelly!"

"What is that? That is disgusting!!" I asked, totally grossed out.

Then he pointed at Keigo-kun and said, "You!" So we found our last contestant.

~At the match~

I was now standing with Mizuho. She was awesome. I liked her. She was argumentative, could defend herself, and cared about me.

"Hey, Aqua!" She said. "Did I mention that I like your hair?"

"No. Thanks! It's natural!" I exclaimed.

"That makes it even better!" She said. "I hate it when people dye their hair."

"Yeah, me too. Oh, hey look!" I said. "It's my best friend." I was talking about Hitsugaya-kun. The match had already started.

Hitsugaya-kun won in a flash. Karakura High School cheered.

"Yeah!" I shouted.

"That's the way, little guy!" Mizuho exclaimed.

"And you said you didn't want to do it!" I yelled at him.

I heard him yell back, "Oh, shut up, Yuki!"

It was Keigo's turn. We were expecting a win, but we lost.

"Keigo-kun's an idiot," I said stoically.

"You got that right, girlfriend!" Mizuho said.

Now it was Renji's turn. During his fight, I sensed a Hollow. I got out my artificial soul and transformed into a Shinigami. When I ran past the others, they looked at me like I was crazy.

"It's a Hollow," I merely said.

The others nodded. I turned to Luna, my fake soul.

"Oi! Don't cry too much, okay?" Luna was a crybaby. That's what her problem was. Each fake soul had a personality problem.

She sniffed. "I'll try my best…" Then she turned to Keigo-kun and said, "Why'd you loose, Keigo-kun?" Then that's when she burst out crying.

I sighed. "I told her not to…"

After the Menos Grande was beaten, Ikkaku went back. We followed him a little while after. When we entered our gigais, we found out that we won. I smiled.

~Two Days Later~

It was about two days later when I was walking back to Inoue-san's after school. I was always busy with after school activities, much to Hitsugaya, Rangiku, Ikkaku, and Yumichika's dismay. But I was also busy with Hollow Patrol, much to my Karakura friend's dismays. I pretty much had a busy life in Karakura Town.

Well, so anyways, I was walking back to Inoue's house, hoping to find some peace and quiet for a change. But unfortunately, I met Mizuho on the way. It turned out that she was looking for me anyways.

"Hey, Aqua!" She called.

"Hey, Mizu-chan!" I yelled out happily, even though I wasn't really in the mood.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" She asked when she caught up with me.

"Sure," I said.

"I heard that you're an artist…" she started.

"Not really," I interrupted while blushing.

"If it's not a problem, do you mind coming over to the school with me?" What? Go back to that place? Why? "We need to paint some sets for the school play, and we need all the help we can get."

My Soul Phone chose a bad time to vibrate. "I would love to…" I paused. "But…"

"'But' what?" Mizuho asked.

My Soul Phone kept vibrating, but I kept ignoring it. And that, my friends, is never a good thing to do. Why? Rule Number 24: Always answer your Soul Phone no matter what situation your in. "Oh, nothing!" I laughed sheepishly. "I'll go with you! It's just that I don't know what to paint!"

"It's okay! I'll tell you!"

~About five minutes later~

So now I was in the school's theater painting sets for the school play "The Phantom of the Opera". I was just minding my own business when suddenly I was pulled into a vortex. I was really weird. I closed my eyes. When I opened them, I was in a black room with very dark gray clouds. I looked around.

"What?" I asked to no one in particular. "What am I doing here?"

"You are in the world that links the world of the living and Hueco Mundo together," said a man/boy that was wearing white. He had short black hair with purple eyes. "It's called the 'garganta'."

"Who are you?" I was scared out of my mind. He was the only obstacle in the room.

"I'm Espada Number Six. My name is Luppi," he said. I felt my eyes open wider.

'Number six?!' I thought. 'Hitsugaya-kun had trouble with Number 11!'

"You may know Aizen-sama correct?" I nodded. "He has a proposition for you. You see, Aizen-sama has a great interest in you. He wants you, and he won't stop until he gets what he wants."

"What does he want with me?"

"You have a special type of healing power that can heal any type of wound in just a maximum of five seconds…"

My mind went back to when I healed certain people with my special healing power.

'How did Aizen now about it?' I thought.

"Aizen can see everything…"

'What? He can read minds?!' I thought surprisingly.

"The garganta belongs to the Arrancars. Nothing hides in here…"He smirked. I shuddered.

"So Aizen wants me for my power?"

"Not only that. I'll let him talk to you himself for the second reason."

"A-Aizen himself?!" Sure enough Aizen appeared right after.

"Hello, Yuki-chan," he said smiling.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Well, you see, every king has to have a queen, even the Soul King…"

'Does that mean he wants me to become his queen?!'

"That's exactly right. But since I'm feeling nice, I'll let you think about it."

"I don't know…" I held my head. "My mind says yes, but my heart says no…"

{The reason I'm saying yes is because if you say no, he'll keep coming for you or he'll go after someone else,} I heard Ryuu say.

{Well, I've always wanted to become Soul Queen, but not with Aizen!} I exclaimed. "I can't decide…" I was confused. Aizen or Hitsugaya-kun?

"Then perhaps this will convince you." With that said, he placed a jewel on my chest and it glowed. I screamed in pain and agony. It hurt like hell. It was the Hogyoku.

When I stopped screaming, I heard a kid say, "What is that?!" I turned around and say him. I guessed that he could see spirits.

"What is what?" The other kid beside him asked.

"That thing?" He pointed at me. Hello! How rude! I'm a Shinigami! I'm human, just like you!

"What thing?"

"You don't see it?" His voice was surprised and calm.

"I can't see a thing…" the kid said.

That was it. I jumped up and landed by the river. I looked and saw my reflection. I gasped at what I saw. I was wearing a Hollow mask and I looked like a wolf with light blue fur.

'I'm a Hollow?' I asked. 'This is Aizen's punishment?'

'That is correct,' I heard his voice inside my head.

Something inside me clicked and I immediately went angry. 'You really think this is going to convince me?!'

'It will…' He was unusually calm.

'How?' I asked.

'Turn around…'Aizen commanded. But I refused.

"That was amazing, Ikkaku!" That voice was really familiar. Rangiku-san?

"He was just a small fry," I heard Ikkaku say back.

"I know the Eleventh and Fourth Divisions are enemies, but has anyone seen Shiro-san today?" Yumichika-kun asked. What? He was worried about me? That was different…

"I called her a million times," Ikkaku said, "but she didn't pick up." Oh, so he was the one who called me.

"No, I haven't…" Hitsugaya-kun! There you are! Thank God! "Where could she be?" But then he immediately groaned and said, "Why does that Hollow choose to show up now?"

I turned around slowly and there were my comrades all turned and looking at me. They didn't see the real me. They couldn't see through my Hollow form. I felt hurt.

"I can't see what you guys are sweating about," Ikkaku said when the others groaned. "It's just a stinkin' Hollow…" I felt helpless again. I'm just a 'stinkin' Hollow'…

"Extend, Hoozukimaru!" He moved to attack me, but I got out of the way just in time. I heard him mutter, "Dammit…"

'You can fire ceros you know…' Aizen told me.

'I don't want to! I don't want to hurt them! They're my friends!'

'Sooner or later you're going to have to…'

'NO! I WON'T! AND YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!!' I yelled at him.

I leapt up and away from my friends that were attacking me. I heard Hitsugaya-kun shout, "After it!" and then a "Yessir!"

"I've never heard of a Hollow running away before!" Yumichika shouted as they ran after me.

"Yeah, it's really weird," Rangiku agreed.

Then I smashed through a barrier. I was now in Urahara's underground training room. There was Renji-kun and an Arrancar, and by the looks of the battle, the Arrancar was winning. That was so not okay.

I landed in front of Renji, protecting him. I heard him say to the other four, who had just arrived, "What the hell…?!"

"We don't know either, Abarai," Ikkaku stated. Then I felt the Mod Souls and Urahara-san's reiatsu.

I narrowed my Hollow eyes and growled viciously.

"I smelled your reiatsu," I said at the Arrancar. This was the first time I had spoke aloud since I had turned into a Hollow. My voice sounded like it was two voices instead of one. One was my original and the other was a lot deeper. "Why are you hurting them?"

"Are you against Aizen too?" He asked, excited for some reason.

"Yes and no…"

"Make up your damn mind!"

"That's the truth," I said. "If you don't know what it means, that declares the fact that you are very stupid."

"You're the stupid one!" He yelled. "You can't defeat me…" He whispered, "Adjuchas…"

Then I lost it. "Don't underestimate my power, you baka! What if you're the weak one?! How do you know you're stronger than me?! Huh?!" There was a silence. "WELL, ANSWER ME!!"

It hit me then. The Arrancar was speechless. I howled and it was not at all that beautiful. It was filled with my agony, pain, torture, and the fact that my friends cared. It was loud. You would practically loose your eardrums if you heard it then. Then I ran towards the Arrancar and, catching him by surprise, bit his neck. He fell with blood pouring out of his neck.

'I killed one. I actually killed one…' I thought. I turned because I sensed his reiatsu.

No, not Hitsugaya-kun, but Urahara-san. He had his hand stretched out to me.

"Come on," he said in a soft tone. "I'm not going to hurt you."

I hesitantly starched out my wolf-like nose to his hand. When his hand and my nose met contact, I immediately felt a shock of power running through my body. I blinked and my human vision became clear again. What the hell…?

I felt the ground swaying beneath my feet and a fell into the arms of Renji-kun.

I woke up with the three Mod Souls standing over me. For some unfathomable reason, I couldn't remember what had happened to me.

"Hey!" Ririn exclaimed.

"W-What happened?" I spoke the question that was on my mind. I didn't care if it wasn't on anyone else's. I needed an answer.

"You took the Arrancar out all by yourself," Kurodo said, happily.

"Very impressive," Nova said. "You didn't use any power." I was surprised at this. A healer defeating an Arrancar? That wasn't something you saw everyday.

"I did?" I asked this just to make sure they weren't lying.

"Yes, you did!" Rangiku-san said. "We're all very proud of you! Even Renji couldn't take it out on his own!"

"Do you remember?" What the hell was Urahara-san talking about? I was confused. "You were turned into a Hollow."

It was all coming back to me now. Aizen's proposition. Everything. I held a hand weakly to my head.

"Do you remember now?" How the hell can Urahara-san be calm at a time like this? "That doesn't surprise me. The Hogyoku was created to do that. Turn a Shinigami into a Hollow and a Hollow into a Shinigami. Only I can change them back if it's permanent, because I'm the one who created the Hogyoku in the first place. The bad part is, and the little show you just saw of Yuki remembering the incident, was that when changed back, the person looses their memories of five minutes before the first transformation to five minutes after the second transformation. Any questions?"

"I have one, but it's for Shiro-san," Yumichika said. He was probably going to ask why I didn't answer my Soul Phone. I already had the answer. I looked in his direction with a stoic look. "It's pretty obvious who transformed you, but why did Aizen want you in the first place?"

My eyes started tearing up. I wasn't expecting that.

"I'm sorry!" Yumichika was exclaiming. "I didn't mean to offend you!"

But I ignored him. Instead I rushed to my feet, while running to Hitsugaya-kun. Once I reached him, I threw my arms around his waist and buried my face in chest. At first, he didn't hug me back, probably from shock.

"W-what's wrong?" He stuttered. Then, he slowly wrapped his arms around me in a protective way. I heard him growl in frustration and over-protectiveness. "What happened?"

I refused to say anything, but I whispered in his ear so only he could hear it, "I was so scared…" I snuggled closer to his warm yet cold neck, crying my eyes out.

"What happened?" he asked again. "Tell me…"

"Not here…" He agreed with me.

~A little while later~

Now Hitsugaya-kun and I were walking down the streets of Karakura Town in gigais. He was leading me by the hand. Then he suddenly and abruptly stopped, making me almost run into him. I put my hand softly on his back to keep me from running into him.

"So…tell me…" His back was turned.

I hesitated. "Well…"

He turned around and I saw the most sympathetic look on the young taichou's face that no one will ever see but me. I felt my eyes water because of the way he was looking at me. "Please, I'm only trying to protect you. I'm not trying to tear you down like Ayasegawa did. I'm trying to help, so let me help…" I swear I thought I saw a single tear slide down his cheek. I reached up to wipe it away, but he caught my wrist.

I started to speak with a more determined like manner, because our eyes were locked. "Aizen wants me for my power…"

"Your special healing power?" I nodded. "He won't get to you then. I promise."

"There is another thing though," I added. He raised an eyebrow. "You know how Aizen wants to become King?"

He nodded. "He wants you to help him?" I shook my head.

"Ie. You're not even close," I said.

His eyes narrowed. "He wants you too…become his…Queen. He will never get to you. I swear." I hugged him, tightly enough not to suffocate him and tick him off, but just to make him shut the hell up. He did so and hugged me back.

~One month later~

Hitsugaya-kun, Rangiku-san, Ikkaku-kun, Yumichika-kun, and I were in the park, communicating with our zanpaktous. Well, Ikkaku, Hitsugaya-kun, and I were. Yumichika and Rangiku were fighting and arguing. Again.

Hitsugaya-kun got pissed and told them to shut the hell up or he'd send them both back to Soul Society. Hitsugaya-kun was good. They shut up after he said that.

Ikkaku was looking weird at the sky. "The wind has changed…"

Hitsugaya-kun and I looked over at him curiously. He just shook us off.

'Ryuu…' I called.

{Hai, Snowy?} She called back. I was pulled into my inner world.

'It's been a month, the Winter Showdown is getting closer, and Aizen still hasn't come for me yet. Do you think he gave up on me?'

{Well, knowing Aizen, he never gives up. Aizen is very smart. His zanpaktou, Kyouka Suigetsu, is equally intelligent and makes illusions. No, he didn't give up on you. He's probably waiting for the right time to show up.}

'I'm scared, Ryuu…' I wanted to voice out my emotions now.

{Of what? Aizen?}

'Ie. Not Aizen. But it is a person.'

{Who is it, Snowy?}

'Hitsugaya-kun…'

{Why?} She was surprised.

'Whoever fights against Aizen dies…' I said sadly.

{Hyouro-kun will always recover if there's water around. And he does recover somewhat fast. So don't worry about a thing.}

'I'm not worried about Hyourinmaru-san. I'm worried about his owner,' I told her.

{I'm afraid I don't have answer to that, just some advice.}

'What is it?'

{Believe in Hitsugaya. Let him protect you. You do have a huge crush on him by the way. It shouldn't be that hard to trust him. He's protecting you because he loves you too and-}

I cut her off. 'He doesn't want to loose me to anyone. Yeah, yeah, I know. Thanks Ryuu. I feel a whole lot better know.'

{No problemo.} She smiled.

Then I heard a ripping sound, which snapped me back to the real world. I looked up and immediately paled. They were here. The time has finally come to say goodbye.

The others must've noticed my discomfort, because they looked up as well. I heard Hitsugaya-kun growl in anger. But nonetheless, we swallowed our soul candy and were forced out of our gigais.

My face was pale and my eyes were small and cloudy. I couldn't believe it…

"I'm ba~ck!!" Luppi shouted happily and knowingly at me. This only caused me to make me even more scared than I already was. In other words, it only made the scenario worse.

Hitsugaya-kun stepped in front of me protectively and almost immediately. "You're here because of Yuki, aren't you!?" I couldn't; look at his face. It was so scary. His eyes were dancing with anger.

Luppi smirked. "Maybe…" This only mad Hitsugaya-kun angrier.

"Well, you're going to have to go through me first!!" He yelled.

I was saying over and over again, "Believe in him, believe in him, believe in him…" I had my fingers crossed and my eyes closed tightly.

I heard Luppi say, "I'm soory. I can see that you also have feelings for the girl, but if I must release my zanpaktou, I will…"

Light was shinging in my face now. I opened my eyes. Hitsugaya-kun was flying at Luppi in bankai form. "I won't let you!"

"Don't die, don't die, please don't die!!" I chanted to myself. I was practically crying.

There was a bright pink flash. Luppi had released his zanpaktou, Trepadora. A white thing flew out fast at Hitsugaya-kun, but, thankfully, he blocked it with one of his ice wings.

"Very impressive," Luppis voice said. "But just think. That attack, the one you were able to block just now. Do you think you'd be able to block it of it were eight times stronger?"

The smoke cleared and there was Luppi, standing there with a backpack-like thing of eight tentacles like an octopus. Uh-oh. If Hitsugaya-kun had a little trouble blocking just oine, then he would have major trouble blocking eight.

And trouble he did have. As soon as the tentacles put force on Hitsugaya-kun's wings, the ice immediately cracked and Hitsugaya-kun fell.

"Taichou!" Rangiku-san shouted. Then I screamed. It was full of agony, pain, sadness, and worry.

I heard him whisper, "Damn…" He was wincing in pain.

I was crying again. "No…" He must've seen it, because his face filled with sadness and regret.

"Gomenasai," he whispered so I could hear. "Yuki, I tried…"

"Hitsugaya…" I whispered. Then I suddenly shouted, "TOSHIROU!!!" Yes, I had called his given name. But I'm sure he didn't mind at a time like this.

The others were caught, but me. "Please, don't hurt them! Hurt me instead!" I shouted at Luppi.

But he simply said, "I'm sorry. We're not allowed to spill even one drop of your blood. If we do, we'll have to face Aizen's wrath."

Luppi then made a tentacle grow thorns and it flew at Rangiku-san. But at the last minute, I stood in front of her. Luppi couldn't hold back. That's why I did it at the last minute, so he wouldn't be able to. There was a flash of red, and I then saw Mr. Hat-N-Clogs up in the air with us.

Urahara-san almost beat up Luppi, but this one mentally retarded Arrancar stopped him.

"Tch," Luppi said. "Whoever gets in my way dies. I wanted to kill the guy wearing the hat. Oh, well. It's too late now. It's high time we return to the task at hand, right dear?" He looked at Rangiku. "You really are pathetic. After that clog-wearing came and saved you, what did you do, but get caught again."

"Just shut your mouth." Thank you, Rangiku-san. "Do you even listen to yourself? The worst thing in a guy is that he won't shut up. The second worst thing in a guy is that he flirts with two girls at once."

Luppi lowered his gaze at her, but she remained unfazed. Go, Rangiku-san.

"Look, lady. Have you forgotten that I have captured you? You should be aware that if I get upset, you'll be skewered!" he was cut off short by ice tugging at his tentacles. I looked to the suspect, smiled, and happily cried.

"Huge mistake to let your guard down, against any of your opponents." Yes, it was Toshirou-kun.

"You're dead. You have to be dead." Oh, but he's not. I inwardly smirked.

"Hyourinmaru's power is without limit. Hyourinmaru will always reform as long as there is water around."

{Told ya,} Ryuushiro smirked. I was too happy to speak.

"My time is up," Toshirou-kun went on. "I've had too much time to prepare. You made a critical mistake in your strategy. Your resources are limited and finite. Your weapon is eight arms. My weapon is all the water in the atmosphere." He twisted his sword sideways. "Sennon Hyouro!" And my world went white.

When I woke up next, I was tucked under Luppi's arm and inside a gold barrier.

"And it's a good thing you didn't kill the girl," Luppi was saying. "Otherwise she would have died by your hands. It's too late now." That's when I noticed what the gold barrier was. Negacion. Uh-oh…

As we went up into the garganta, I tried to reach out for Toshirou, but he kept his head down, probably in silent agony.

Then I saw black, and the garganta closed. Now I was doomed.

In Hueco Mundo, Grimmjow killed Luppi, but Aizen told me to try to get him back. So I placed up one of my special healing barriers, and little ashes and remains of his body started putting themselves back together again. The Arrancars in the room were amazed and mine and Inoue's healing powers.

As I was doing that, Aizen left me in the care of Tia Hallibel, Espada Numero Tres. I would really have to behave.

But then, Aizen told Ulquiorra to give me the "instructions" for their special bracelet. I listened intently. He told me that the bracelet would hid me from every spirit accept the Arrancars. I had the power to walk through walls. He also told me I could only say goodbye to one person. And I couldn't take the bracelet off, no matter what. And I had until midnight, four hours from now.

I nodded to show that I understood.

~Karakura Town~

It was five minutes till midnight now. I had walked around Karakura Town and enjoyed every last minute. I walked to Urahara's shop to see if Toshirou was there. I stopped at the meeting room. Toshirou wasn't there, but the others were.

"She what?!" Who were they talking about?

"She got kidnapped," Ikkaku said. Who?

"By the Arrancars," Yumchika finished. Oh.

Even though I knew no one could hear me, I said, "Still talking about me, huh?"

"Oh, no!" Ririn said.

"We have a huge problem on our hands!" Kurodo exclaimed.

"Great…" Nova said sarcastically.

Then Rangiku-san came in. "Taichou is asleep." Oh, so that's where he was.

"Good, he needs it." Why, what was wrong with him, Yoruichi-san?

"Yeah, ever since Yuki was kidnapped, he's been dazed," Rangiku-san continued. "He keeps clenching his fists in frustration and he's always having a headache or something like that. I know he loves Yuki, but I've never seen him like this. I think he's got 'love fever' or something. And…I don't think Taichou's sleeping as peacefully as he should be. I think he's having nightmares of her kidnapping this afternoon." She sighed. "I just wish Yuki was here to cheer him up."

"But I am here…" I admitted. But I went to the room where Toshirou was indeed sleeping. I kneeled beside him.

"Hey, Toshirou-kun. I can't really bring myself to call you by your last name anymore." It was true. Every since I screamed out his first name when he was 'defeated' by Luppi, I didn't feel like calling him Hitsugaya anymore.

"Y-Yuki…" Whoa, that was so sudden. His voice was very feverish and husky. Sweat was running down his forehead. His teal eyes were shut tight.

I placed my right hand on his forehead. "Jesus, you're burning up. And because of me too." I placed my right on top of his hand. "Toshirou-kun, I've always loved you. Nothing can change that. Nothing ever could." I leaned to kiss his lips, but I hesitated and went for kissing his cheek instead. I looked up and saw the time. 11:59. I got up and looked admiringly at Toshirou. "Arigatou, Toshirou Hitsugaya. Sayonara…"

I felt a lone tear fall from my navy blue eye and I saw the world of Karakura Town fade from my vision.

TO BE CONTINUED…

~4~4~4~4~

A/N: So what's going to happen now? Find out in the next chapter. Review, please! If you do, I'll give you a free hot fudge brownie! ^.^


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Enjoy! This one is really long. I also changed Yuki's shikai phrase from 'Freeze and Heal' to 'Freeze', and in Japanese it's 'Hyouketsu'. Got it?

~5~5~5~5~

Part 5

When I was a prisoner of the Arrancar, I was put under the care of Tia Hallibel, Espada Number 3. I met her and her fraccion, along with all the other Espada and their fraccion. Unlike the fraccion and Inoue, I was invited to the Espada meetings. I wondered why at first, but later Hallibel-san told me it was because I was the Hollow Queen and Aizen-sama allowed me to. What really bugged me was the fact that everyone started calling me 'Yuki-sama'.

My outfit was similar to Inoue-san's. The only altercations were that the back cape was longer, the white pants were longer and closer to my ankles, and I didn't have the puffy sleeves.

Sun-Sun was quiet, kinda like me whenever I around a stranger, but she also made great comebacks, like me whenever I was in a fight with Ikkaku-kun or Yumichika-kun. Apache was known for her mouth, so not like me. But she was hardcore, like me whenever I'm in a fight. Mila-Rose was an African Arrancar. She and Apache fought a lot, just like the fourth and eleventh divisions. Tia Hallibel herself was a girl and, in fact, the only female Espada. During my stay in Hueco Mundo, I felt myself grow attracted to her. She listened to me and truly understood me, while I did the same for her. She gave me advice on everything. My favorite fraccion was Sun-Sun, and I felt like I could talk to her all day. Whenever we were caught talking to each other, Mila-Rose and Apache always teased Sun-Sun about not being talkative. I never did like that.

Even though I was making new friends like I was passing out free concert tickets, I couldn't help but feel lonely. I knew why. I missed my Shinigami friends. I knew I had Inoue to talk to, but Ulquiorra wouldn't let me see her most of the time. I missed Momo-chan. I missed Rangiku-san. I missed the Soutaichou. Hell, I even missed the entire Eleventh Division. But the person I missed the most was Toushirou-kun. What was he doing? Was he preparing himself for the Winter Showdown? Was he shoving my memory aside? Was he brewing in his anger for Aizen? Was he constantly talking to Momo with both of them not knowing who I was or where I was? It was killing me not knowing what was happening on the other side.

But a couple of days ago, I felt it. I felt Kurosaki-san's uncontrolled, captain-sized spiritual pressure, along with Sado-san's and Ishida-san's. I knew where they were going. To save Inoue-san. I also felt Rukia-chan and Renji-kun. Was anybody going to save me?

Right after I got to Hueco Mundo and met Hallibel-san, I noticed my snowflake hairclip was missing. Sun-Sun and Hallibel helped me search for it, but we couldn't find it anywhere.

I was sitting in my room about six days after Kurosaki-san's arrival when Sun-Sun came knocking.

"Come in," I said.

"Yuki-sama, Aizen-sama wishes to see you." I mentally sighed. Please, stop calling me that, Sun-Sun. But nonetheless, I got up and walked with Sun-Sun to Aizen's throne room.

The doors opened and there sat Aizen on his throne.

"Yuki-chan, I'm so glad to see you. Sun-Sun, leave us," Aizen said.

"Yes, Aizen-sama." Sun-Sun left us in peace. I was pretty scared what he was going to show me this time.

"Snowy…" It was very clear that Aizen was addressing me, for I was the only person besides him in the room. "Look into that portal over there. I know that you are feeling very lonely. So it is high time that you move to someone else." I obeyed him and looked into the portal.

My eyes widened and my heart stopped beating and then broke in half. I turned away from the portal with some difficulty. When I returned to Aizen's throne room, I noticed that Ichimaru and Tousen were there, but I was too preoccupied to talk to them. I was panting heavily and my heart was rapidly shattering into many pieces. How could they?

I should probably describe to you what I saw. It's pretty hard to explain in full detail like a paragraph, but I can put into one sentence: Toushirou and Momo were snogging with each other. I can't really put it any other way besides that they really had forgotten about me. Why would Toushirou do that to me? He's practically in love with me. He rescued Momo from her mental crusade with my help. Why wouldn't he try and rescue me? Why would Momo do that to me? She KNOWS that I like him. She told me herself that she didn't like him like that. She never would. Why would they…? Those damn traitors…

My mind was full of those questions. I hung my head in emotional anger. My reiatsu was faintly releasing in small but rapid waves. I felt someone rub relaxing circles into my back. I looked up and saw Inoue-san sadly smiling at me. Why the hell was she here? I decided to ask questions later.

Aizen opened up the garganta and told Inoue to stay where she was. He told me to come along. I walked through along with Aizen, Tousen, and Ichimaru. On the other side, I looked around at the city and saw Karakura Town. I saw a group of regular looking people off to the distance.

I heard, "It's been a while, hasn't it, Aizen?"

"Shinji Hirako, the leader of the vizards," Ichimaru told me. I nodded in acknowledgement.

While we four were just standing there, I felt everyone's reiatsu. They were all surprised. They had stopped what they were doing and looked over at us. Actually, they were looking at the three grown men standing in front of me. Well, Aizen was standing in front of me. Tousen and Ichimaru were standing by my side, Ichimaru on my right and Tousen on my left. So basically, they were all hiding me, probably on Aizen's orders.

"You know what to do…" Aizen's voice made me jump out of my skin. I looked at him. "Yuki…"

I must've felt every Shinigami's reiastu grow surprised again, but stronger than last time. It was probably because Aizen had actually said my name.

I smiled and nodded at him to show that I understood. I shunpo'd off to find Starkk and Lilinette.

I was kind of sad when I realized that Lilinette was the last fraccion standing. But I walked over to her, placed my hand on her shoulder, activated my healing powers, and told her, "You're doing a great job. Keep on fighting."

"Thanks, Yuki-sama," she said smiling, all healed. With my powers, it only took five seconds to heal any wound.

I shunpo'd off to Starkk. I put my hand on his shoulder and activated my powers. He was fighting against Kyouraku-taichou, so I knew just what to say.

I whispered in his ear, "Try outsmarting him first." He nodded. I shunpo'd off to Espada Number 2.

I did the same thing as I did to the others. I whispered to him advice about defeating Soifon. "Try aiming for her right arm." I knew his power, so it was useful advice.

"Thank you, my Queen." I tensed up at this, but I remained calm.

I shunpo'd to Hallibel-san. I whispered in her ear. "Don't attack his brilliant mind first. Try attacking his cold heart first. He broke mine." Yeah, Hallibel was fighting Toushirou.

I told her this because I knew that Hallibel cared about me. She swore to Aizen and me that she would protect me from anything still possible at any costs, so she would avenge my broken heart. That's why I admired Hallibel.

As I shunpo'd back to Aizen, I was tempted to shunpo back to Toushirou and give him an uppercut. But it was against Aizen's orders, or so he told me.

'Stop, Yuki-chan. You'll have your chance later,' Aizen told me in my head. Yes, I would get to deal with him later. Thank you, Aizen. "You're welcome, Yuki." Damn, I forgot he could read my mind.

I landed by his side and said, "Healing complete. The three remaining Espada and last fraccion standing have been powered up once more."

"Good job, Yuki-chan." 'Stay and watch any battle. Stay where you are and do not move, so I know where you are, and don't get involved with any battle,' he said inside my head again.

'Got it.' I shunpo'd off not all that far away to watch Hallibel and Toushirou fight. I wanted him to learn his lesson.

As I was watching him fight, I noticed something rather odd around his neck. It looked like a…snowflake. I looked closer at it and saw that he was wearing my hairclip on a chain around his neck. My eyes widened. Who was telling me the truth?

I fell to the ground, clutching the sides of my back cape in mental agony.

{Snowy…} Ryuu called. {Snowy!}

'Ryuu?' I asked.

{If you have trouble deciding who to believe, may I remind you that Kyouka Suigetsu makes illusions?}

'Oh, I forgot. My bad. Ryuu, tell me your relation with Kyouka Suigetsu.'

{Long ago, before we were zanpaktous, and I mean all of us, two people had a crush on me, the Lord of Illusions…}

'Kyouka Suigetsu,' I said.

{Correct. And can you guess who the other person was? I didn't know it until their first master, the Heavenly Guardian of snow and ice, told me.}

'Hyourinmaru-san.'

{Exactly. I didn't like Kyouka Suigetsu. I only pretended to like him, just to keep Tobiume and Haineko out of my love life. They were jealous that Hyouro-kun was spending all his time with me.}

'Keep going,' I urged her.

{While I spent my other time with Kyouka Suigetsu, he told me all about himself, thinking that I trusted him and that he trusted me, which was really the second one more than the first. But Kyouka Suigetsu eventually found out and was tempted to kill me, but he couldn't, because he loved me. I was held in his captivity for I don't know how long, but eventually Hyouro-kun came to save me, like I knew he would. And then I traveled with him and the Heavenly Guardian, until I met the Heavenly Guardian of Ice and Healing mixed together, and three days later, after getting to know my new master pretty well, I became a zanpaktou.}

'Wow…'

{Now, I want you to compare your life right now with my story, or past is more like it.}

'I have two people who have a crush on me, Sosuke Aizen and Toushirou Hitsugaya. Aizen trusts me and told me his whole plan. He kidnapped me to come to his castle, Las Noches, and kept me in captivity there.'

{And Hitsu-sama came to rescue you, just like you knew he would.}

'Eventually,' I said somewhat sad.

{What's wrong?} She paused. {Oh, Snowy. Snap out of it. Hina-san and Hitsu-sama have nothing between them.}

'How do you know?'

{Hyouro-kun himself told me.}

'…Ryuu…' I winced in agony of that dreadful pairing of HitsuHina. (Sorry, HitsuHina fans!)

[Well, what do we have here?] A weird female voice said. And it wasn't Ryuu's. I held my head.

'What…What do you want?'

[Oh, dear. I'm your Inner Hollow, Hinote Kuro. My name means 'Black Flame', while yours means 'White Snow.' It only makes sense.]

'Wait! 'Inner Hollow'? Doesn't Kurosaki-san have one of those?'

[I can see you're so smart. His Inner Hollow is Hichigo Shirosaki. Pay attention to this. Are you tired of being a weak healer? Do you want the power to show that you can take care of yourself? Do you want to show that you don't anyone to protect you?]

'N-No! I'm fine the way I am!' I was tempted to say 'yes' for some reason.

[Are you sure? You could soon be Soutaichou…]

'I don't want all that power!'

[Of course you do! First you must do what Aizen says…]

I was suddenly controlled by Hinote and stopped to listen to Aizen.

'Yuki-chan, attack Toushirou-kun. He broke your heart, remember?'

'Yes, Aizen-sama…' My voice sounded so weird, like it was echoing in a room. What the hell was wrong with me?

I suddenly felt myself draw Ryuu from her sheath. I could faintly hear her telling me, {Stop!} I shunpo'd away from my spot and shouted to Hallibel, "Let me handle him!" There it was. My weird voice again. Hallibel moved from her spot in front of Toushirou, so I could destroy him. I saw his eyes widen.

He held up Hyourinmaru to stop my attack, but it only weakened it.

"Yuki! Stop it!" I heard him yell. I ignored him.

I continued fighting him, and then he eventually snapped out of his trance and said, "Soten ni zase, Hyourinmaru!"

Hyourinmaru as an ice dragon came flying to me. But I blocked with my sword, and it wasn't even in shikai!

He was surprised, but his surprise didn't take him over for very long. He made another ice dragon and threw it at me.

This time I waved my sword and then beams of ice went lying towards him. We barely dodged the other's attack. One ice beam caught him in the shoulder, and his eyes filled with pain. My eyes unfathomably became soft and I felt my world return to normal. I flicked my wrist and a wave of healing energy came at him and hit his wound. He gasped in pain, but then a look of relief came upon him.

I knew Aizen was still watching me, so I was forced to put on a show of fighting him. I thrusted my sword at his stomach, but Ryuu was blocked by, {Tobiume…}.

"Momo-chan…" I saw Toushirou escaping. I didn't care. I had to tell her.

"Yuki-chan…why are you doing this?"

"Why the hell did you do that to me, you freakin' traitor. You knew I loved him. Why would you go and persuade him to break my heart?" I asked her, tears falling from my cheeks.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Momo asked.

"You know what I'm talking about! Why the hell did you kiss Toushirou?"

"We didn't kiss, Yuki! We only talked to each other!"

"What were your conversations about?" I demanded to know.

"You!"

"What about me? Were they about, 'how can we can go and forget about Yuki' or something like that?"

"No! We were deciding to go whether to go against the Soutaichou's orders to stay at Soul Society or not!" Momo said.

"Oh ruler, mask of flesh and blood, all creations of the universe, fluttering of the wings, ye who bears the name of man! Scorching heat and disorder evolve the transposition of the southern sea barrier. Hadou #31: Shakkahou!" I yelled. She dodged it.

"Oh ruler, mask of flesh and blood, all creations of the universe, fluttering of the wings, ye who bears the name of man! Truth and temperance, strike but slightly your claw upon this wall which feigns ignorance of sin. Hadou #33: Soukatsui!"

I dodged that. "Bakudou # 4: Hainawa!" She managed to dodge that. I forgot that she was a kidou expert. I then got an idea.

"Oh ruler, mask of flesh and blood, all creations of the universe, fluttering of the wings, ye who bears the name of man! Scorching heat and disorder evolve the transposition of the southern sea barrier. Hadou #31: Shakkahou!" She dodged it.

"You already tried that, Yuki!" She said with her back turned away from me.

Then I whispered, "Bakudou #30: Shitotsu Sansen!" I got her. She didn't try to dodge it at all. So I got her.

Then the background behind Momo became red. I looked back and saw a…

"Menos Grande," I whispered. The Menos released the cero. Momo's eyes were black and cloudy. So were mine.

I didn't know how fast I was until the last thing I saw was red.

*A little While Later*

I felt myself on the ground. I also sensed a lot of reiatsus around me, well about four.

I woke up and saw the faces of Momo, Hisagi, Izuru, and Rangiku. They all looked worried. I immediately felt a lot of pain spread throughout my whole body.

"Wha…What happened?" I asked wincing.

"You saved me from that cero," was all Momo said.

That's right; I felt my heart change a ton of times before I was hit. My heart had changed to the good side when Momo was about to get hit. Aizen's betrayal had been enough. She didn't need anymore pain. I wanted to say that out loud, but I didn't.

I looked past Izuru and saw Aizen and Toushirou fighting one another. Dammit, I wasn't worth fighting over. Besides, it was my choice with who I got to go with for eternity. I just wasn't worth fighting over. Like before, just like before, when I got hit with that cero, I didn't know I fast I was until it hit me. More like it stabbed me.

I had jumped up and ran to the two fighting. I jumped up to them and ran in between them. I knew it was a very stupid idea, but I had to stop them.

Even though my vision was blurry and almost black, I could see what had happened. It looked like the two were aiming for each other, but they had gotten me instead. I looked down and saw Kyouka Suigetsu, plunged deep into my chest, and Hyourinmaru, also plunged deep into my chest. They were going opposite ways, so double the pain. The hilts were literally against my body.

Toushirou was the first to pull Hyourinmaru out. I felt pain shoot all throughout my torso. I couldn't stand it. I couldn't bear it. It was so painful. I was close to tears.

I said what seemed to be my last words, "I may have been…claimed by you…Aizen…but my heart…has always been…claimed by you…Toushirou-kun…"

That was when Kyouka Suigetsu was pulled out. The pain was doubled and my tears fell. I was crying not only because I was in so much pain, but that both of them cared for me as much as the other.

As I fell in slow motion, I felt strong arms wrap around me that stopped me from falling. At first I thought it was Aizen or someone like that, but I looked down and saw an ice dragon hand. I slightly looked back and out of the corner of my eye, saw Toushirou's turquoise eyes glittering with tears. I slightly smiled when I saw him, though I still don't know why to this day.

I whispered to only him, "Toushirou…Save me…" The last thing I saw was him, and the last thing I felt were his tears dripping onto my neck. The last thing I tasted was the blood in my mouth, and the last thing I heard were about a dozen people calling out my name.

Then my world went black…

*About three weeks later*

I woke up to a bright and sunny room. The sun was in my eyes, but I didn't mind. I didn't want to be at Hueco Mundo ever again. I was also wearing an oxygen mask over my mouth and nose. Wait. Where was I anyway?

I looked beside me and saw a familiar man with long white hair and brown eyes. "Ukitake-taichou?"

He nodded. "How are you feeling?"

"Better than this." The pain in my stomach came back, and I groaned in pain. I felt somewhat better when Ukitake rubbed his hand against my cheek.

"That's Toushirou's job…"

"What is?" He asked.

"Making me feel better…" I closed me eyes and tried to remember the good times and get all the lies that Aizen told me out of my head. "Is Aizen, you know…"

"Dead? Yes."

I sighed in relief. "How's Toushirou?"

"Sorry, he's still recovering from his injuries."

"Are they fatal?"

"No, but it's not impossible to die from a broken heart."

My eyes widened and felt tears forming. "You mean he's…?"

He stopped me. "We don't really know at this point."

"How long was I out?" I asked. Time to change the subject.

"Three weeks, two days, eleven hours, thirty-four minutes, and thirty seconds." Leave it to the Captains to have a full, complete, accurate analysis.

"How many visitors did I receive?"

"You received about three or four." I raised an eyebrow. "They're only allowing Captains to enter this room."

"Oh. When Toushirou fully recovers, could you tell him to come and see me?" I asked.

"Of, course," he said, getting up. "I'm actually off to see him right now."

I cracked a little smile. Ukitake walked away. When he was at the door, I said, "I know why they're only letting Captains see me. It's because they can defend themselves better than anyone else."

"It's because…you have an uncontrolled inner hollow." Ukitake understood. That satisfied my soul. "I'll leave you to your rest."

I nodded and fell into a deep slumber once again.

*Next Day*

When I woke up next, it was sunny again. I still had the oxygen mask on my face. I moved my arm to rub my eyes, but I hit something somewhat hard. I looked to see what I had hit. It was a familiar head of spiky, yet soft, white hair.

You really should think about it. I mean, Toushirou does have white hair but it's soft, just like the snow. But that's beside the point. You're getting off topic here, Yuki!

Anyways, I knew it was Toushirou by his hair. By the looks of it, he was sleeping away. A deep sleep, because he didn't wake up when I bumped him. I shook his shoulder, but he was still sleeping. I did this for about three more times, but no avail. I poked him in the arm, and he finally stirred. He lifted his head and saw me awake.

"Yuki…" he rubbed his eyes. "How are you feeling?"

"Better…and you?" This felt awkward. Well, it must've been because I hadn't seen him up close and in person for a long time.

"Not bad, actually, now that you're here and awake. And alive." I could sense sadness in his voice. Well, it was kind of obvious.

"I have a few questions, Toushirou-kun."

"Ask away." It felt so good to hear him say that. No one ever answered my questions before, except Toushirou and Unohana-taichou, not even if they were super important.

"Why did Aizen want to Hogyoku anyways? I mean, what did he use it for?"

"I'm not sure if I got the full and accurate report, but Kurosaki said he turned himself into a hollow."

"Really? And he didn't even tell me?"

"That's what it looks like."

I thought for a little bit. "Okay, now it's time to get a little personal. Hope you don't mind, but why did you come to save me?"

"I told you before, and I'll be glad to tell you again." I was confused, so I turned to him and raised an eyebrow. He said the following somewhat slowly. "I am not going to loose you to Aizen."

I nodded. I did remember.

*Flashback*

_He nodded. "He wants you to help him?" I shook my head._

_"Ie. You're not even close," I said._

_His eyes narrowed. "He wants you too…become his…Queen. He will never get to you. I swear." I hugged him, tightly enough not to suffocate him and tick him off, but just to make him shut the hell up. He did so and hugged me back._

*End Flashback*

"…or anyone else. Did you get all that?"

I nodded, and said, "This isn't school, you know."

"I know that, but it was sure as hell just as important," he said, sternly.

"I know. You don't have to bug me about it, Toushirou-kun." I smiled a little.

"I know, it's just fun to do that," he said, also smiling. "Any other questions?"

"Yeah, one more that I can think of."

"Ask away, then."

My smile faded, and so did his. I refused to make eye contact, in fear of what he might say. "Do you…forgive me?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Forgive you?" he repeated. "What for?"

"For temporarily betraying the Soul Society." I felt a stinging in my eye, then a tear come down my cheek, but I didn't try to wipe it away. "For attacking you and Momo, and anyone else."

It was Toushirou who wiped the tear away. "Of course I forgive you. What makes you think that I wouldn't?"

"I don't know. I was confused throughout the whole fight. I didn't know what side to take. I didn't know whether to obey Aizen's orders or not. I didn't know whether or not to help you fight. I'm sorry. I made new friends while in Hueco Mundo. It was pleasant while it lasted. And it didn't really last all that long."

"You'll feel better soon. You'll get over it. Unlike Hinamori." I looked at him. "Aizen dazes whoever is close to him. Hinamori was the one of them, and she's still not over it."

I nodded. "I have one more thing to ask, Toushirou-kun."

"What is it?"

"Can I have a hug?" I felt more tears threaten to fall, but I ignored them.

"Of course."

And for the first time in a long time, I felt happy and content while I was in the tenth division captain's arms.

~5~5~5~5~

A/N: Hope you enjoyed it! If I made any mistakes, please tell me. I will do anything and everything in my power to fix it. I haven't this whole part of the manga, just the parts I needed for the chapter. Review please!


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